Torn in Two: The Sequel
by GreenField
Summary: Yes,I'm back!It's 12 years later and a lot is happening.Lorkin and Melody are struggling to hide their feelings for each other,Sonea has a big decision to make,Dannyl and Tayend are facing another hurdle and Aurelia is facing a whole new challenge...R &R. Cover image by ZurinaRose  DeviantArt .
1. Family Ties

**A/N: I know I said I wouldn't do another BMT fanfic...or a sequel...and yet here I am! I hope all of you who read the last one found this okay...thanks to Laura Scofield and Azlira, who I will probably continue to use as my consultants on this story – if they don't mind, that is . So, here it is, a sequel. I have plans for this :D. Please review!**

12 Years Later

"Arius – Arius, no! _Not the herbs_! Oh God. Grab him for me, will you, Eden?" Aurelia pleaded. Though still fairly young and still wonderfully beautiful, she looked undeniably worn out, and had done for the past twelve years of her life. Just one child had been easy, but add twins and two more children to the mix and things had gotten a little complicated. It didn't help that Dorrien had started teaching Healing classes, and wasn't around as much. God, she missed having him around.

"But Mummy – " Arius whined as his elder sister dragged him away. Aurelia grumbled to herself, still braiding Liliana's hair.

"I _told _him not to leave those herbs around. Medicine is all very well and good, but not around children – "

"Mummy, you're pulling!" Liliana cried, putting her hands up to her golden hair, wispy and half styled. Aurelia groaned and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry" she sighed, "Mummy's tired"

"Dad shouldn't be long" said Eden comfortingly. The elder and more solemn twin, she was extremely apt at knowing what she should say and when she should say it, unlike Arbella, the younger of the two, who was outspoken and impulsive.

The twins were twelve years old. Aurelia had fallen pregnant quite by stupid mistake one night, but had struggled through her studies nonetheless, and she was glad of the twins. Both of them were the image of their mother, though in different ways. Eden was so attuned to the feelings of others, unlike Aurelia, with golden hair that was only vaguely wavy and those delicious melted brown eyes. She was slender to the point of being scrawny, with her father's angular facial features and high, elegant cheekbones. Arbella was much more like her mother in the days before Melody had been born, with a wild frivolity that tended to end with her getting into trouble. Her hair, too, was golden, but fell in thick ringlets, and her brown eyes held a permanent mischievous glitter. She was slightly plump, but in no way that was a detriment to her looks, and her laugh was contagious. Despite being so very different, the twins were extremely close and both, Arbella especially, idolised their half-sister Melody.

Liliana, now eight years old, was a delicate, dainty girl with a pixie-like face and pointed chin. She was insipidly pretty, with her fair, wispy hair, maybe more of a mousey shade than her mother's, and Dorrien's hazel eyes. She was often thoughtful and extremely curious, but she did love to giggle and dance. She, Aurelia suspected, was Dorrien's secret favourite.

Arius was the baby of the family, at four years old. He was =, quite honestly, a cherub. His face was plump and golden, and his smile enough to soften the hardest of hearts. He spoke beseechingly, pathetically, in the tone of a young child, and his mother adored it. He was the image of Dorrien – dark hair, hazel eyes and an interest in herbs that was rather worrying at his age. Aurelia thought that he was probably the most affectionate of any of her children - and their only boy.

Aurelia smiled, looking round at her children. She wished Melody was there. Melody, now that she was fifteen years old, was no longer just a daughter – she was a friend and confidante also. And she, possibly, was Aurelia's secret favourite, though she loved all of her children more than she could bear. Melody had been granted early entry to start her studies – she was extremely bright and, when tested at Aurelia's request, presented a lot of potential. She had only been studying for a week, but seemed to be enjoying it – and of course, she had the support of her best friend Lorkin, who, although he was further ahead in his studies than her, remained her closest friend. Of course, Aurelia and Sonea both knew that the two secretly adored each other...and Lorkin had grown very handsome, the image of Akkarin, and Melody had become beautiful, the image of Dannyl with all of her mother's charm...but they would have to wait and see.

"Aurelia! _Aurelia_!" the door to Aurelia and Dorrien's rooms crashed open. Sonea stood there, looking, quite truthfully, terrified. Aurelia rose from her seat at once, letting Liliana's incomplete braid drop from her hands.

"Sonea! What's the matter? Has something happened? It's not Lorkin, is it? Oh God, where's Dorrien? Has something happened to him – Oh, Mellie! Is it my Melody? Or – "

"_Osen proposed_!" Sonea interrupted in a shriek. Aurelia froze, and the two women stared at each other for what felt like an impossibly long time. Eden and Arbella exchanged a glance – Auntie Sonea had been with Osen for a very long time, but there had never been any notion of marriage! Arbella beckoned Liliana over and continued with the braid. They sat in silence, listening.

"Sit down" said Aurelia at last, leading Sonea to a chair far away from her children, "Now, what on earth are you talking about? What do you mean, he proposed? Tell me everything"

Sonea was shaking, "Do you have any wine?"

"Yes, yes, of course" Aurelia poured a glass, and watched Sonea throw it down.

"He – it was completely out of the blue! We were just sitting, there, talking! And then he turns to me and says – he says – he says 'Sonea, will you marry me? I know I'm not the man you gave your heart to so long ago, but we're good together. What do you say?'"

"Well?" cried Aurelia impatiently, "What _did y_ou say?"

"I said..." Sonea looked at Aurelia, bemused, "I said yes"

"You did _what_?" Aurelia shrieked, "But Sonea...! I mean, you do love him, don't you?"

"Um...yes"

"Well, then, at least that part's right. But you don't love him like you loved Akkarin...so isn't a bit cruel of you to say yes, knowing that your life won't ever be quite what you wanted it to be?"

"I wasn't going to say yes" Sonea groaned, burying her head in her hands, "It just sort of came out! And I can hardly change my mind now!"

"Well this is a fine mess!" Aurelia grumbled, "Have you told Rothen?"

"No, I – "

"I'm back!" Dorrien appeared, and, as always, he looked happy. He had all he had ever wanted- a teaching job, a beautiful wife who he loved more than anyone else in the world, a stepdaughter that he was actually good friends with, and four wonderful children of his own. Life was good for Dorrien.

Liliana and Arius dashed up to him at once and were treated to great bear hugs that made them giggle. Eden and Arbella, being too old for such capers, merely grinned over at their father, but accepted his kiss on their cheeks.

Aurelia turned in her seat to smile at him, and all at once it was as though all her stresses and fears and Sonea's problem had melted away into nothing, and all that existed in the world was Dorrien, her husband. He came over to her and kissed her gently, leaning over the back of her chair.

"Good day?" she asked against his lips, still smiling.

"A little stressful. Yours?"

"Exhausting" Aurelia responded with a little laugh. Dorrien looked up, and noticed Sonea with a start.

"Sonea! What are you doing here? You look terrible"

Sonea merely groaned again and said nothing. Aurelia sighed.

"Osen proposed, and Sonea said yes"

"Osen – wait, what?"

Aurelia sighed heavily. This was going to be a long evening.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, oblivious to the situation being discussed by their mothers, Lorkin and Melody were seated at a table in the Novice's Library. They sat opposite each other, and despite the idea that the two of them were best friends (which they were), the chemistry between them was obvious.<p>

Melody was leafing through a heavy-looking book, her eyes narrowed, her long fingernails running along the lines, looking for a reference to the process of Healing that her own stepfather had taught her that afternoon in class. Her dark hair, falling in glossy curls, made scratching sounds against the paper as she moved her eyes back and forth across the text, and every so often she would bite her cherry-coloured lips in deep thought. Lorkin noticed this, and it made him smile. He had to frequently draw his eyes away from her and back to his work.

"Do you know what you're going to be when you graduate, Lorkin?" Melody asked suddenly. Her voice was lilting, musical, and never failed to make her listener instinctively draw closer to her; her voice lent the impression that whatever she was about to say would be very interesting.

Lorkin shrugged, running his fingers through his dark hair, eyes twinkling, "I don't know. Probably become a Warrior. I could maybe teach classes, I'd make a good teacher"

"You'd sleep with your students" said Melody, trying to sound amused to cover up her obvious jealousy over how many girls fancied Lorkin, and how many of them he had taken to bed with him.

Lorkin scowled, "I would not! I have morals, you know"

"Do you? I had no idea" Melody really was smiling by this point, and at her smile Lorkin stopped his protests.

"What about you? I know you haven't been studying long, but you've always been one for looking ahead"

"I think Alchemy, maybe" Melody replied thoughtfully, still scanning the book, "I know Mum and Dorrien would want me to chose Healing, and so would Aunt Sonea, so I could help her in the hospital...but Dad chose Alchemy, and we've always talked about it, I just find it so interesting" she looked up, as if alarmed that she had spoken so much, "Yeah. That's what I think"

Lorkin grinned, "Sure. Found the bit that you're looking for yet?"

"No"

"Want to give up?"

Melody grinned back, "Why not?" she rose from her seat and linked his arm, a friendly, familiar gesture, "You're such a bad influence on me, Lorkin. Remind me why you're my best friend?"

"Because you like bad influences" Lorkin replied, and led her on the way to her rooms.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, Melody returned to the small room she occupied in the Novice's Quarters. Of course, she spent most of her time with her mother and Dorrien, just as Lorkin spent most of his time with his mother and Rothen. But both of them had loved the idea of having their own separate rooms – her to get away from her younger siblings, him so that he could sleep with as many girls as possible without disturbing his mother. Their rooms were opposite one another, and Melody often heard girls coming and going, a whole gaggle of them who absolutely adored Lorkin. She estimated that he'd slept with maybe half of the female novices now, and she didn't like it. Because of course, she loved him. Always had. And there was something there, there had been since they were children...but he didn't seem to care, sleeping around with at least three girls a week. So she did the same –flirted with boys in front of him, pretended to have slept with them all, when really she'd only ever invited one back to her room. It was a masquerade that she hated, but deemed necessary.<p>

_Mellie?_

_Dad!_ Melody cried joyfully. Dannyl checked up on her every day, and she saw him and Tayend once a month, but she still missed him like crazy. She missed Tayend a bit, too. He was fun.

_Hi, sweetheart. How are you?_

_I'm...alright. Are you okay? And Tayend?"_

_We're fine. Tayend's going a bit mad with all my research laying everywhere, I think he has a problem._

Melody laughed, _I bet he loved you saying that. The book's going well, then?_

_It's alright_, Dannyl sounded slightly stressed_, Progressing slowly, if I'm honest. But you don't want to hear about that. What did you do today?_

_I had Healing class. It's really weird being taught by Dorrien. Kind of nice though. I mean, he teases me later on if I got something wrong in class, but it's nice to have someone that you know teaching you. I wish Rothen was still teaching Alchemy._

_That's right, I forgot he'd given up. Who teaches now?_

_Merrin. He's evil._

_I think I know him. He's a dragon, from what I can remember._

_You can say that again. He hates me._

_I'm sure he doesn't. No-one could hate you. And anyway, you don't need an Alchemy teacher. You have readymade tutors in Rothen and me._

_He does. But I suppose you're right_ Melody became distracted as she heard Lorkin's voice and a girlish giggle. She heard his door shut. Betrayal filled her eyes with tears, as it did every time she heard him with another girl. She blinked them away. _I'd better go, Dad._

_Are you okay, Mellie?_ Dannyl had sensed her mood, _Is something the matter?_

_I'm just tired. Lots of work to do. And Arbella keeps stealing my stuff. _That part, at least, was true.

_She's a demon, that girl. I'll leave you be then. Tayend says hi._

_Yeah, say it back. Love you, Dad._

_Love you too, Mellie. I miss you._

_Miss you too._

She felt her father's lingering presence leave her, and Melody shivered violently. She didn't like lying to her father, but she couldn't tell anyone how she felt about Lorkin. She wasn't even sure that she could put into words how she felt about Lorkin.

Her parents wouldn't understand.


	2. Babysitting

**A/N: Me again! Sorry, I thought it would take me less time to update than it has...I didn't realise how hard sixth form was going to be. Oh well. I will survive, and all that. Anyway, thank you SO much for the reviews, I'm glad you all seem to have found the story and are enjoying it thus far, I hope you continue to! Please review** **xx**

Melody checked the time and, with a wince, quickened her pace. She would be late for dinner with her mother, stepfather and siblings, and Aurelia always looked so grumpy whenever her daughter was late. Melody hitched her bag back up onto her shoulder, where she was sure it must be leaving a bruise, it was so heavy, and moved into a pace resembling a jog. As she reached the room, however, Melody stopped in her tracks. Rothen was standing outside with Eden, Arbella, Liliana and Arius. Arius' lip was trembling, Liliana was pouting and Eden and Arbella looked distinctly annoyed.

"What's going on, Rothen?" Melody asked, lifting her back off of her shoulder and dropping it on the floor with a thud, "Why are you all standing outside?"

Rothen smiled jovially, "It's your mother and Dorrien's anniversary. Your mother asked me if I would mind looking after the younger ones here – she knows that she can amuse yourself – so that she and Dorrien can have some time...alone"

Eden and Arbella both made puking noises at the same time. Even Melody grimaced slightly.

"Oh, gross. Are you all having dinner together?"

"Yes, I think so. Sonea and Osen are joining us" Rothen paused, smiling, "Would you care to come?"

"Yes" said Melody, then moved closer to him as they began to walk, "And Lorkin? Is he coming?"

Rothen looked surprised, "No, I assumed you knew. He has a date tonight"

Melody looked away, down at the floor. A shadow passed across her face, making Arius look fearfully up at her. She plastered a smile onto her face and grasped her younger brother's hand, swinging it merrily.

"Good for him!" she said, a little too enthusiastically, "Good for him!"

Meanwhile, Aurelia was sitting by the window, waiting for Dorrien to return from his class. A vague, wistful smile graced her pretty face as she remembered what had taken place fourteen years before...

_She had donned a beautiful dress, one of the few occasions that she was allowed to wear a dress, and had her hair styled elaborately by Elle. Elle and Sonea were her maids of honour, and Sonea was charged with carrying Melody, Aurelia's year-old daughter, down the aisle. Dannyl and Tayend had been reluctantly allowed to attend. Dorrien had made his father his best man, thinking that it would have been odd to have Dannyl beside him after all that had happened between him and Dorrien's own fiancée._

_She had glided, floated down the aisle, her face glowing romantically, her eyes bright when she saw Dorrien waiting for her. This was it, she knew. Finally, someone that loved her, and she loved him too, so much. He meant everything to her. He was everything._

_Sonea had wept during the service, perhaps imagining the wedding she might have had. Osen had lent her a handkerchief and she had smiled at him. It made his day. Rothen had gotten quite tearful also, but had focused all his attention on Melody, whose care he had been charged with during the traditional ceremony._

_The kiss they had shared had tasted of her tears of happiness, and as they had begun to move away from her, Dorrien had whispered;_

"_You are the most beautiful thing in the world, my Aurelia, and I love you"_

_And Aurelia had sobbed too hard to reply._

"Aurelia? You look like you've been miles away" Dorrien smiled at her, dumping his books and papers, "What have you done with my children? They've not come running up to me. Where are they?"

"I was just thinking about our wedding" Aurelia giggled suddenly, and danced over to him, eyes sparkling, "I got rid of them for a few hours"

"You what?" Dorrien looked at her incredulously. She giggled again.

"I know what you're thinking. This must be the first anniversary we've ever had without them around. I mean, Rothen's dropping them back in three hours or so"

"Only three hours?" Dorrien was grinning too, his arms around her slender waist, back to how it once had been despite five childbirths. She raised her eyebrows.

"You think we can manage to fill three hours?" she asked, smirking. Dorrien pulled her closer.

"I think...I think we can manage a lot longer than three hours"

She laughed, a loud, ringing laugh, "Well, this I have to see"

He ran his fingers through her golden hair and kissed her mouth slowly, desirously, and her teeth lightly nipped at his lip. She had to suppress a grin when he moaned. She loved Dorrien, and, almost as much, she loved having this power over him.

"Are we going to go to bed?" she asked softly, still smiling, lips inches away from his. Dorrien ran his hands over every each of her through her robes, and she shivered, her eyes burning into his.

"I think I can just about make it to the bed" he confessed quietely and, with a shriek of delight from her parted lips, he scooped his wife up in his arms and carried her to their bedroom.

* * *

><p>"I win!" Liliana was standing on top of a chair, her eyes bright with enthusiasm and her hair falling wispily out of its braid. Melody laughed.<p>

"Yes, alright, alright, you win" she had been playing tag with her youngest two siblings to amuse them, and the chair had been the safe base. Osen had also joined in, much to Arius' delight – he didn't like being the only boy playing games.

Arius glared at his oldest sister. Eden was curled up, reading, and Arbella was getting her hair styled by a very reluctant Sonea. Both of them were pretending to be too old for playing such games, but had been watching the proceedings and secretly envying the fun of it all.

"I wanted to win, Mellie" Arius whined, tugging at the hem of his sister's robes, "I'm the youngest"

"That doesn't mean – " Melody was cut off, suddenly distracted as she happened to look out of the window. Lorkin was walking outside, under the stars, arm in arm with a girl with short blonde hair. Melody's eyes watered slightly as she recognised the girl – Gladiode sat nearby to her in her Healing class, and had always been friendly. Well, Melody certainly wouldn't be friendly back, not any more. As she watched, Lorkin inclined his head to hear what Gladiode, who was looking up at him with eager, worshipful eyes, was saying. As he went to answer, Gladiode pulled his head down and smacked her lips forcefully against his, and Lorkin kissed her back. Melody gave a sharp gasp of horror before being unceremoniously dragged back to the present by the feeling of Arius tugging on her robes.

"Mellie? You're not listening, Mellie!" Arius was getting close to having a major tantrum by this point, so Melody sat on the floor and held him on her lap, giving him a cuddle. His dark curls helped to hide the tears in her eyes. Arius finally fell silent, sensing that something had upset his favourite sister, and cuddled her back. She grinned slightly.

"You okay, Mellie?" asked Rothen anxiously, looking up from the page Eden was showing him in her book. Mellie forced a big smile onto her face.

"Oh yes, I'm fine" she said pleasantly.

Osen moved to sit down beside Sonea, who had huffily given up on Arbella's hair – she was too fussy!

"They're lovely children, aren't they? Dorrien's kids?" he said wistfully.

"Oh, yes" Sonea replied warmly, "Lovely. Mellie is so like Aurelia, and Arius reminds me so much of Lorkin when he was young"

"I can't wait to have children" said Osen cheerfully, regarding Liliana with fondness, "I've always wanted to be a father"

Sonea froze, stunned. Oh God. And she couldn't even contact Aurelia mentally – god only knows what she'd see and hear if she entered Aurelia's memory now! How did she reply to that? She didn't want children! She had Lorkin, her son, _Akkarin's child, _and he was perfect, and quite enough. Oh dear. Oh dear.

"Yes" she said shrilly, more than a little hysterical, "Yes. Children. Lovely"


	3. Advice and Invites

**A/N: Me again! This took me a little longer than I expected, too. Thank you so much for your reviews – Laura, I can promise you that things aren't going to be plain sailing for Dannyl and Tayend, but also not for the reasons that Canavan described...so you shall have to wait and see Please review! Hope you enjoy it**

The next day was a Freeday, much to Melody's relief. Just one day without having to carry that stack of books around was a blessing. And she wouldn't have been able to concentrate anyway – every time she saw Lorkin with a girl it turned her brain to mush for a few hours or so.

She hurried along to her mother's rooms, desperate to seek her advice. Although, at heart, she had always been a daddy's girl, she did love her mother, and Aurelia always gave good advice.

She entered the rooms and almost laughed at the scene. Her mother was lying across a chair, yawning widely, still in her nightclothes but looking impeccably beautiful. Dorrien had her head in his lap and was toying with her hair, smiling slightly. Any other child would have probably found this sickening of her mother and stepfather, but Melody smiled privately to see how in love they were after all this time. Eden was playing with Arius, teaching him his letters, her eyes bright and serious. Arbella was dressing up Liliana, who was giggly and excited by the game. It was unusual of Arbella to be unselfish enough to actually play with her siblings. Usually, she spent her days hanging around outside, flirting with all the male novices, while Eden tutted from behind a book.

"Mellie!" Aurelia sat up, beaming, "How are you?"

Melody smiled, "I'm, um...can I ask you something?"

"Always" Aurelia smiled and gestured to the seat opposite the one she and Dorrien were sharing. Melody looked at her stepfather pointedly.

"Privately" she confirmed, slightly apologetic. Dorrien rose, half-laughing.

"I know when I'm not wanted. I'll help Eden with Arius...he's starting to look a little bored, I think she might be too serious for him" he went over to his eldest daughter and only son. Arius looked relieved to see him there. Aurelia smiled as she watched Dorrien sit on the floor beside them, pulling Arius onto his lap and conversing quietely with Eden. She felt that she couldn't ever have married a better man.

Melody sat down next to her mother and looked down at her feet, pink in the face. Aurelia laughed softly.

"Come on, my Melody. We're on our own, they can't hear us from over there" she reached out and stroked a dark curl back from Melody's face, her eyes full of affection for her pretty daughter, "What's bothering you, my darling?"

Melody, still hanging her head, mumbled the words in an embarrassed rush, "I'm in love with Lorkin"

Aurelia couldn't help laughing aloud, "I know that, sweetheart! I've always known. You've always loved him"

Melody looked up, startled, "Have I? Was it that obvious?"

Aurelia smiled, "Sorry to say it, but yes. I have to admit, I don't understand why it's bothering you. Lorkin loves you too, he's always adored you"

"He has?" Melody's eyes were both fearful and hopeful at the same time.

"Yes!" Aurelia exclaimed, "Of course he has"

"Well he never shows it. He always goes off with girls, Mum...so many of them! I can hear him with them, from my room..." her eyes grew tearful, "He doesn't love me. He never will love me. He's too busy sleeping with every other female novice at the Guild!"

"Oh, Mellie!" Aurelia grasped her daughter's hands and squeezed them tightly between her own, "He does it for you! It's all for you! Can't you see that?"

"No" Melody looked at her mother in tearful puzzlement, "I don't see it. What do you mean?"

"I mean that he's doing it to make you jealous. He's too embarrassed to tell you that he loves you – I dare say he's too scared, really – so he's doing all these things that make your heart ache more and more for him, hoping that you'll be the one to say it first, because he can't" she paused, "Do you understand, Mellie?"

"I think so. But it doesn't make it any easier. For me"

"It does. You just have to play him at his own game"

Melody frowned, "What, sleep around?"

Aurelia's eyes widened in horror, "No! Good Heavens, No! No, you are not inheriting that off of me, I tell you that now. What I meant was make _him _jealous"

"How am I supposed to do that without sleeping around?"

"Sometimes I wonder if you're really my daughter" Aurelia replied, half exasperated, half laughing, "All you have to do is make yourself completely irresistible to him"

"But how?"

"You've already got it in your genes, Mellie. A stunning smile over your shoulder. Toying with a loose strand of hair. Biting your lip. Looking down as if you don't quite know how to react or what to say" Aurelia grinned, "You know how to flirt, Mellie. Use it"

Melody couldn't help laughing, her face bright, "Alright. I think I know what to do" she hesitated, "You know, most girls don't talk to their mothers about stuff like this"

Aurelia grinned, "I am an expert at stuff like this. You should always choose me for help on this. It'll work, Mellie, you wait and see. He won't be able to resist you"

"You promise?"

"I promise"

"Mum?"

"Yes, Melody?"

"How on earth did you get that bruise on your neck?"

Aurelia giggled and her eyes danced, "You'll find out soon enough. I'm sure Lorkin will be quite willing to educate you"

Melody winced, "Oh, Mum! That's disgusting!"

"You were the one who asked, sweetheart" Aurelia replied with a shrug, "And anyway, you can't remain naive forever, however much your father would like you to"

* * *

><p>"Dannyl! Dannyl, look!" Tayend came bursting into Dannyl's study, his face bright and eager. He still looked youthful and handsome, and although he was slowly ageing, was as exuberant and excitable as ever.<p>

Dannyl dropped his pen, exasperated at the interruption, and turned to look round at his lover. He had, admittedly, aged more noticeably than Tayend, but he, too, was still handsome, though he looked weary – he had been writing this book for a long time, and Tayend always interrupted him mid-flow. Nothing was more annoying than that, for any writer.

"Is it really that important?" Dannyl asked sceptically, eyeing the letter that Tayend was holding. Tayend perched on the arm of a chair close to Dannyl, flushed with excitement.

"Oh, yes" he said solemnly, eyes twinkling.

Dannyl turned around fully; "Is it from Melody?" although they communicated every day mind-to-mind, Melody did sometimes write letters, if there was some situation that she wanted to describe to him. She always wrote these letters as though she were writing a story, sharing every miniscule detail so that it sounded almost like a work of fiction. She was a wonderful writer.

"No, it's not from Melody" Tayend rolled his eyes, "Why would it be? You spoke to her this morning, she'd have told you if she was sending a letter. No, it's a party invite"

Dannyl stared at him, "An invite? Why on earth would you be so excited about that?"

"Because this isn't just any invite" Tayend waved the paper about eagerly, "This is an invite to a party being held by the Elyne King" he was, quite literally, puffing out his chest with self-importance. Dannyl snorted.

"Good one, Tayend. Why would we be invited to a party by the King? I'm a disgraced Ambassador, remember? I don't get invited anywhere"

"Well, it's not strictly for you. It's for me, because I'm _clever,_ Dannyl! I can see which way the tides are turning; henceforth, I am always moving in the right circles. And, due to my recent movement into a whole new circle, we have been invited to one the King's parties, upon a recommendation from the Dem's wife I recently made friends with. And I'm allowed to bring a guest. So there"

"Tayend, that's all very...interesting, but you can't take me as your guest! They already know that we live together, and the only reason that they believe us when we say that there is nothing going on is because they know I've fathered a child. They'll eat us alive if we go together"

"But who else would I take?" Tayend asked, looking crestfallen.

"Take Mayrie. She'd love it" Dannyl shrugged. Tayend gave a choking cry of horror.

"Take _Mayrie_? She's the most indiscreet person in the world, she'd be an embarrassment. Anyway, no-one cares about us anymore, Dannyl, and you can't miss a King's party. I'm taking you, as my guest, end of" his arms were folded stubbornly.

"Must I go?" Dannyl whined, clearly reluctant.

"Yes" said Tayend firmly, "Yes, you must. You are. And you are damn well going to enjoy yourself. It won't hurt you to leave that book for a night"

Dannyl grinned, "Fine, I'll go. But you owe me"


	4. Party

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long! A levels are really stressful. Thanks you so much to ksny, Azlira and Laura Scofield for your wonderful reviews, and ksny for sending the message that made my day and made me feel guilty too! So, I really hope you like this chapter, I've been looking forward to it loads, and please send me more of your lovely reviews! Thanks for reading!**

"Mellie!" Mellie's only female best friend, Sabina, whispered across their desks. Melody glared at her.

"Shush, he'll hear us!" she hissed in response out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes darting towards Dorrien who, as usual, was taking their healing class. Sabina snorted, rolling her eyes.

"And? He's your stepfather, Mellie, he won't care. I wanted to tell you that I'm having a party for my birthday tonight, in mother's rooms. She's going to sleep in my room in the Novice's Quarters. All the novices are invited" Sabina, like Mellie, had been born in the guild. The only difference was that she hadn't been a scandal – her mother had graduated and been married before she had Sabina. The only thing that made Sabina's birth slightly unusual was that her father had had Sachakan heritage, and it all seemed to have come out in Sabina, who had dark, honey-gold skin and big, almond shaped dark eyes and straight dark hair. She was mischievous and fun-loving, and that was why she and Mellie had always gotten on well.

Melody smiled. A party was just what she needed; she hadn't yet plucked up the courage to begin her assault on Lorkin, and if he was going to be there, a party would be the perfect time to begin.

"That sounds great" she said to Sabina brightly, "What time do you want me there?"

"As soon as you can, I told everyone to grab some food after class and come along, because I'm not providing for them! I – "

"Sabina! Mellie – I mean, Melody – " Dorrien snapped, trying not to sound as though Mellie was his stepdaughter, "Please stop talking. Do either of you have any idea what I just said?"

The two girls looked at each other. Slowly, they both shook their heads.

"I didn't think so. You'll have to copy someone's notes, I expect to see them next lesson" Dorrien caught Melody's eye and for a second, he wanted to laugh at the cheeky glint in her eye, so familiar to the expression he had seen on Aurelia's face so many times before. She grinned fleetingly at him and he returned back to his lecture, shaking his head slowly at her cheek.

* * *

><p>"It's good job I'm coming to this party too" Lorkin said as he and Melody walked towards the rooms where Sabina was having her party. They could already hear loud chattering from inside.<p>

"Oh, and why's that?" Melody asked, raising her eyebrows, "So you can sleep with every girl that comes your way?"

"No" retorted Lorkin, looking suddenly irritated, "Why do you always bring that up?"

Melody looked up at him, a little taken aback, but slightly annoyed too, "Because it's disgusting, Lorkin, making all those girls fall in love with you and just using them. It's not right. Look at poor Gladiode. I saw you with her a few weeks ago and now you don't even talk to her. She adores you. It's cruel of you to do that"

Lorkin glared at her, "Since when did you become such a feminist?"

"I'm not, I'm just saying that I think it's mean of you to do that to all those poor girls – "

"Oh, you don't know what you're talking about, Mellie. Leave off" he unhooked his arm from hers and marched away, entering the room just a few moments before she did. She hovered for a minute, glaring at his retreating back, tears of anger and frustration burning her eyes. She was doing a really great job of making him fall in love with her! How could she be so stupid?

Sabina appeared, bright-eyed, and hugged her best friend, "Mellie! I wish you'd got here first, everyone arrived without me being really prepared, but they seem to be enjoying themselves. Do you want some wine?"

Melody had never been allowed wine by her mother and Dorrien, but Tayend had often slipped her the sneaky glass or two whenever she stayed with him and her father, and Dannyl, usually so protective, always turned a blind eye. She took a glass.

"Thanks, Sabina. Go and enjoy yourself, I'll just wander"

"This is your chance with Lorkin" Sabina hissed excitedly, "Go on!"

"We've had a bit of an argument" Melody confessed, "I don't think he's going to want to talk to me"

"Oh" Sabina paused, "Well, then, play him at his own game. Fyno keeps looking at you"

"What, sleep with Larkin's son? Don't be stupid, Bina, I'm not sleeping with anyone just to make Lorkin jealous. That's not playing his game, that's stooping to his level" Melody protested, though her eyes slid slyly towards Fyno. He was handsome...

"You don't have to _do_ anything! Just flirt with him. You're brilliant at that, when you want to be. Trust me" Sabina squeezed Melody's hand and dashed off. Melody hovered for a moment, unsure. She still wasn't keen on the idea; she didn't want to lead Fyno on. But then she spotted Lorkin.

He had been cornered by Lepida. Lepida was one of the few female novices that Lorkin hadn't slept with, simply because she made his skin crawl. She made everyone's skin crawl. She had a shrill, high-pitched voice like a toddler and spent hours curling her blonde hair around her fingertips and laughing squawkily. She was just too much, and her over-the-top flirting with Lorkin had been a constant sight over the past few years, always ending in her being turned down. Yet today, it didn't look like Lorkin was planning on turning her down. In fact, it looked kind of like he was flirting back.

Anger bubbled up furiously inside Melody. How could he bear to even talk to Lepida? He would blame it on their argument, of course, saying that he'd only picked Lepida because he knew that she wouldn't be bothered if he ditched her. But Lepida, of all people!

Lorkin saw Melody look over at them and moved closer to Lepida. Melody felt almost as though she might explode. If only she hadn't argued with him! She could have put her plan into action and maybe he'd be leaning close to her like that right at this moment!

Fyno appeared at her side, slightly pink but smiling winningly at her. Sabina must have been right; maybe he did like her. Well, she'd show Lorkin.

Melody and Lorkin spent the next hour flirting like crazy with other people. Their eyes often met across the room as they edged closer to their conquests. In fact, Melody was almost starting to enjoy herself.

Then Lepida put her arms around Lorkin's waist.

Anger flared in Melody again. She looked up at Fyno. He was still talking, but she wasn't listening to a word. She leapt up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

Fyno, if surprised, did respond eagerly and almost instantly. Melody found herself enjoying that, too. But then she felt a hand on her arm and she was pulled, pretty forcefully, away from Lorkin. He was glaring at Fyno, who looked startled. Fyno was generally shy and had probably never offended anybody in his life.

"Sorry, Fyno, I just need to speak to Melody for a minute" Lorkin said, surprisingly politely, to Fyno. Still holding onto Melody's arm, he pulled her into the room that Sabina often slept in when she wished to stay with her mother. Melody glared at him.

"Oh, so now you want to talk to me? Get off my arm, you're hurting" she jerked her arm out of his grasp and scowled angrily up at him. Lorkin was staring at her, looking more disappointed than angry.

"Why did you do that, Mellie?"he asked, his voice very soft. Melody stared at him, defensive.

"Fyno's nice, that's all. And he seems to like me. And you were with Lepida and I was on my own so I thought...well, I thought, what the hell, I might as well flirt with Fyno"

"That was more than flirting, Mel, you just kissed him" Lorkin replied sternly.

"Well, you looked like you were about to kiss Lepida!"

"What does it matter to you if I was? I know you don't approve, but this is my life, Mellie"

"You were only doing it to make me jealous!" Melody blurted out. She froze. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. Lorkin was frozen too. He hadn't expected her to say that.

"Oh, stop it, Mellie. You're not a child" he said at last, "You might be acting like one, but you are not a child. That's a stupid thing to say"

"Is it?" Melody asked. She was trying to sound seductive, but the tears in her eyes just made her sound pathetic. Lorkin looked pityingly at her, and this made her feel even worse.

"Don't look at me like that" Melody mumbled, hiding behind her hair. Lorkin was right. She was acting stupidly and childishly and selfishly and pathetically and...oh, so many things. And she'd pretty much just told him how she felt about him, and he'd shrugged it aside. Her mother was wrong. He didn't love her after all.

"I think maybe you should go and get some sleep" said Lorkin gently, making her feel even more like a child, "I'm not angry with you, Mellie, honest. I just think that you'll feel better if you have some sleep. How much wine have you had?"

Melody looked up, startled. He thought that she was drunk! She'd only had one glass. But maybe it was better that he thought that. At least then he'd try and forget about what had just happened.

"A lot" she lied, ducking her head again. Lorkin sighed.

"Go on" he said affectionately, "I'll make you excuses to Sabina, I promise"

Mellie smiled feebly at him and dashed away before she could make any more of an idiot of herself. She didn't stop running until she reached her mother's door. It was late. All her siblings would be in bed – so would her mum and Dorrien, probably. But she needed her mum.

She rapped on the door, then called her mother in her mind. Aurelia came to the door almost instantly, wrapping herself in a robe, her hair in a long and messy braid. She clapped her hand to her mouth when she saw Melody's tear-stained face. She hadn't even realised that she'd been crying.

"Mellie! Oh, sweetheart, whatever is the matter?" she drew Melody in gently, "Come in, darling. Come and tell me what's wrong. You can stay here tonight"


	5. Acrobatics

**A/N: Hey, me again! I'm hoping I might even get to write another chapter of this tomorrow too, but don't get your hopes up! Thank you so much for the reviews, it's nice to have so many positive things said. I was a little unsure about that chapter so having your feedback really helped. Please review again! **

"I feel very uncomfortable about all this" Dannyl muttered to Tayend out of the corner of his mouth, "You should have bought Mayrie. She's much better at socialising than I am. I wanted to go and see Mellie today, anyway, I haven't seen her in weeks"

Tayend sighed heavily, scowling, "Dannyl, honestly, you speak to her every day! I'm sure she's managing. Can't you just be sociable for one evening? I mean, look at this place! We're in the _King's home,_ Dannyl; you should be looking a lot more cheerful"

Dannyl took a large gulp of wine, "You know that all this" he waved his hands to gesture to the splendour of the room, "Doesn't impress me. This is your sort of entertainment, not mine"

Tayend glared at him, "I wish you'd just try and take some interest. All you ever think about is Melody"

"She is my daughter, Tayend! And you know that that's not true" he looked around him and became aware that they were drawing a fair amount of attention from the people around him, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. But if you still want to talk about this, then let's do it later. People are beginning to realise that this is more than just a heated debate between friends"

"And so what if they are?" a mischievous glint had crept into Tayend's eye, "I think all of Elyne have figured it out already"

"Then it wasn't a good idea to come here! Tayend, you know what they do to people like us here" Dannyl whispered urgently, eyes wide and fearful. Tayend looked up at him, looking wounded.

"So you expect me to miss a night like this, reject an invitation to the King's court, no less, something that I've wanted for a very long time, on the off chance that someone spills to the King that we're lads? I don't think so"

"Oh, talk a little quieter!" Dannyl was getting more anxious by the minute, and looking round at all the splendidly dressed people wasn't helping the situation any. Tayend looked around them also, and a smile lit up his face.

"Oh, look, it's Emella, the Dem's wife who invited us! I must go and say hello, she really is adorable – will you come?" Tayend was looking puppyishly excited and hopeful. Dannyl looked across to the woman, a simpering blonde thing who was waving eagerly at Tayend. He shook his head.

"I don't think so. Oh, look, there's a group of scholars there, I'll go and talk with them instead"

Tayend looked at him for a moment, "Do you know, I really want to be angry with you right now? I mean, I am irritated by the fact that you don't like the sort of people that I like. But you never have done, and I suppose I won't change that now. The most annoying thing is, I still love you, even though we're complete opposites and you drive me absolutely mental" he grinned suddenly, and Dannyl grinned back. As always, their rows didn't last for long. There had only been one argument that had lasted more than ten minutes, and that...well, that one had been understandable.

With that, Tayend dashed off to his group of friends and Dannyl made his way towards the group of scholars, wishing that he could be spending time with Mellie instead.

* * *

><p>"Sonea! Come in" Aurelia beamed at her friend and opened the door to her rooms, "Dorrien's teaching, we can have a nice catch up"<p>

"Yes" agreed Sonea weakly. The twins, Liliana and Arius looked up and smiled at her. Arius ran over and hugged her knees, then clambered onto his mother's lap as he sat down, closing his eyes and nestling against her shoulder. Aurelia stroked his hair, gently and rhythmically.

"Sorry" she whispered with an apologetic laugh, "He was up half the night, he kept having bad dreams. Dorrien sat up with him for a change. I think it was the best night's sleep I've ever had"

Sonea laughed, "I can imagine, I remember what that's like" she looked across the room. Eden was reluctantly joining Arbella's game of 'Spot the handsomest novice' out of the window and Liliana was playing with her dolls, making them chatter to each other in high-pitched voices. She smiled.

"You do have the loveliest children in the world" Sonea continued, "It's just a shame that Lorkin and Mellie are acting so oddly at the moment. Do you know what happened? I think Lorkin feels embarrassed discussing girls with me. Ha! He thinks that I don't know what he gets up to"

Aurelia laughed too, "I think everyone knows what he gets up to. All I know is that Mellie apparently completely embarrassed herself by trying to make him jealous and now she thinks he'll never want her as more than a friend"

Sonea grinned and shook her head, "When will the two of them realise that they love each other? We've known since Mellie was three years old!"

Aurelia rolled her eyes, "Yes, well, Mellie's trying. We had a little talk about all the little things she can do to make Lorkin confess that he loves her, though making him jealous certainly wasn't on the list. That's just cruel" she paused, "But you didn't come here to talk about Lorkin, did you?"

Sonea looked across at the twins and Liliana, all of whom seemed completely absorbed in their activities. Arius was fast asleep, sucking his thumb, with Aurelia still stroking his hair. Dorrien was out teaching. She had no excuse not to speak.

"Fine, you're right. I didn't come here to talk about Lorkin and Melody. It's Osen. He told me he wants children! I'm done with having children, Aurelia! I have my son, I have _Akkarin's_ son, and I love him more than anything in the world. I don't want another child" she hesitated, "If I'm honest, it's not that I don't want another child. It's that I don't want one with Osen"

Aurelia gasped, "Sonea!"

"Well, it's true!" Sonea cried defensively, "Aurelia, you know as well as I do that if Akkarin...if Akkarin was still with us, then I'd have a dozen children by now and be the happiest woman in the world. But it just wasn't to be. But I just...it wouldn't be right, to have children with him when I don't love him like I love Akkarin. Loved. I mean loved"

"No you don't" Aurelia said gently, leaning forward; Arius flopped in her lap, "You meant love. You said it right the first time. And if you feel that it's wrong to have children with Osen when you don't love him, how is it right to marry him?"

"I didn't say I _don't _love him, just that I don't love him _enough_"

"Exactly" Aurelia looked at Sonea pityingly, head on one side, "You can't marry him if you don't love him enough. At least, that's what I think"

"Oh God, don't confuse me anymore, please" Sonea groaned, burying her head in her hands, "I don't know what to do!"

"You have to do what will make you happy" Aurelia advised kindly.

* * *

><p>"Tayend, can we please leave now?" Dannyl hissed. Tayend was absorbed in conversation with a handsome young man in a very tight-fitting costume. He was grinning and charring animatedly.<p>

It was one of the acrobats that the King had employed for entertainment. Dannyl did not find this encouraging.

"Wait a minute, Dannyl" Tayend said dismissively, waving a hand, "Just five more minutes, this is ever so interesting"

Five minutes passed. Dannyl shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"Tayend, come on, it's been five minutes"

Tayend turned and glared at him. The acrobat was frowning too.

"For God's sake, Dannyl, I'm having a conversation! Why don't you go home? I'll be back soon"

Dannyl stared at him for a few moments. Then he walked away.

* * *

><p>"Dorrien, for goodness sake!" Aurelia was half-laughing as Dorrien trailed his lips down her neck towards her collarbone, "The children have only just gone to bed, they'll hear us!"<p>

"Not if you're quiet they won't" he grinned, teasing. Aurelia gasped.

"How dare you!" she cried, but she was giggling again. She suddenly became aware of someone calling her.

_Aurelia!_

"Oh, Dorrien, get off, just for a minute. Dannyl's trying to talk to me"

"Always Dannyl" Dorrien huffed, but he was smiling. Aurelia closed her eyes to block out the sight of his handsome face and concentrated on Dannyl.

_Dannyl! Hi! What's the matter? Have you spoken to Mellie today?_

_Yes, this morning. _She could sense that he, too, was distracted, but not in a good way, _Aurelia, I need to ask you something._

_Now's not really a good time, Dannyl_ - Dorrien was kissing her again – _Can I – _

_Do you think Tayend would ever have an affair?_

Aurelia was startled into concentrating again, I _–I don't know, Dannyl. I don't think so. He adores you. Why?_

_He...we were at a party, you see, and he got talking to this acrobat – _

_Oh, from what I've heard he's always had a fondness for acrobats. I wouldn't pay much attention to – Oh my!_

_What?_ Dannyl frowned, confused and slightly hurt that she wasn't as concerned as he felt she should be.

_Oh, I, um...you would not believe...actually, you don't want to know what Dorrien just did. I'm going to have to, um...I'm going to have to...um..._

_You're going to have to go. I understand _he lied _I'll speak with you soon._

_Yes. And don't worry about Tay – _her mind voice was cut off as she became completely and utterly distracted by the actions of her husband.


	6. To Kiss or not to Kiss?

**A/N: Hey! It's happened – two updates in two days – whoop whoop! I am actually quite proud of myself. Anyway, thank you for the reviews on the last chapter, they made me very happy, and please review again today – or review both chapters, if you didn't get the chance to review the first one due to my awesome speediness xxx**

"So he's still acting normally with you, even though you made a total idiot of yourself? He definitely loves you back"

Sabina and Melody were haunting the Novice's Library, as usual, and pretending to be concentrating on the illusions they were making. As always they had both grasped the technique straightaway, and Sabina sat twirling a flower of her own creation, while Melody had a pile of rustling, crisp autumn leaves bundled into her lap.

"But how can you be so sure?" Melody asked desperately, "He's my best friend, that's what makes it so hard to tell"

"Hey!" Sabina sat up a little straighter, "I'm your best friend too, right?"

"Of course" Melody smiled, "But you're female, it's different. He's male, he's my best friend and we practically grew up together. Of course he loves me. But does he love me in _that way?"_

"Yes" replied Sabina firmly, letting the flower skid across the table towards her friend, "You don't see the way he looks at you. But I do"

"How does he look at me?" Melody asked, eagerly leaning forward. Sabina cackled, but not nastily.

"Try to look a little less excited, won't you? It's not attractive. Anyway. He looks at you like he wants to eat you up, like he wants to take off all your clothes with his eyes. But it isn't just that, honest, Mellie, it's not just desire, he looks at everyone with desire. But with you, it's...different. He looks at you as if he doesn't know what he'd do without you, as if he couldn't not have you in his life. He adores you, Mellie, and you'd be a fool not to see it"

Melody's face was bright, "Really? Because Mum says that too"

"Well then you should listen!" Sabina cried, exasperated, "He loves you, Mellie. Now what are you going to do about it?"

Melody looked at Sabina for a very long time, thinking. She squared her narrow shoulders and sat up a little straighter. There was a glimmer of hope and excitement in her dark, molten eyes.

"I'm going to kiss him" she decided firmly, "I'm going to kiss him and see if he kisses me back"

* * *

><p>Dannyl kept a ridiculously close eye on Tayend for a week after the party. They had made up easily, as always, and everything was as it always was between them. Except...except Dannyl couldn't get out of his head how handsome that acrobat had been. And how fond Tayend was of men in tight-fitting costumes. And how much Tayend had smiled and laughed and looked deeply interested when the acrobat spoke to him. He knew he was being stupid, Aurelia had said as much when they spoke properly the day after the party, but he just couldn't get the image of the two of them out of his head. He knew that Tayend wouldn't have an affair, knew that he wasn't having one – they only ever left the house in the company of each other, unless Tayend was meeting up with those gossipy women he seemed so fond of...unless he wasn't meeting those gossip women after all...<p>

Dannyl shook his head, trying to clear it of such stupid thoughts. He couldn't concentrate on anything; he only had one chapter of his book left and he hadn't even picked up a pen to finish it, when ordinarily he wouldn't have slept until it was complete. He'd only spoken to Mellie three times that week too, when usually he spoke to her every day. He felt so guilty. How could he be so neglectful towards his own daughter, when he adored her so much? He'd try and speak to her now.

_Melody?_

_Hi, Daddy._ Dannyl smiled. He loved the way that Mellie still called him that when they spoke, so sweetly. She still sounded like his little girl. It always gave him such a shock when he actually went to see her and saw that she was a young woman now, and a beautiful one at that. He worried about her.

_You've been quiet this week; Melody continued reproachfully, Have I done something wrong?_

_No, no, of course not, sweetheart! I've...I've been trying to finish my book, you see._

_Ooh, good_! Melody was the only person Dannyl could think of who had always been interested in his book, asking how it was progressing every day and reading each finished chapter whenever he went to see her. She was a bright young thing. _Is it nearly done?_

_Very nearly. One chapter left._

_Oh, that's brilliant, you've been writing that since I was born! Congratulations, Daddy!_

_Thanks, sweetheart. How have you been?_

Melody, usually so good at blocking out her emotions when speaking to him (because God knows he'd tried to check how she was really feeling for years) , suddenly gave off a wave of anxiety. Dannyl frowned, immediately concerned.

_What's the matter? You felt really worried then._

_Oh, nothing! Don't worry about that_ Melody replied airily, her emotions once again in _check I've been alright. We learnt to do illusions today. I'm thinking I might make an illusion of a corpse and send it chasing after Arbella. She's been stealing my things again, and she's driving poor Eden crazy. It's amazing how different those two are._

Dannyl let it drop, enjoying the distraction_, That's because Arbella's more like your mother when she was a bit younger. She got better when she had you, but she could be pretty selfish and vain when she wanted to be, you know._

_Oh yes, she's told me many times how glad she is that I'm not like that. I suppose you're right. Eden does remind me of Dorrien sometimes, and so does Liliana. Arius is like Mum again._

_He's a lovely little boy. I don't know where he got that from. He must have had a really amazing big sister to set the example._

He felt Melody laugh, _Thanks Daddy. _There it was, the flash of anxiety again!_ I have to go now._

_Why?_

He could tell that his daughter was taken aback by the question_; I just have to, Daddy. I'm meeting Sabina._

_Alright then_ he agreed reluctantly, _I'll speak with you tomorrow. Send your mother my best wishes. And Dorrien. Give Rothen my love._

_As always. Goodbye, Daddy._

_Bye, darling._

Dannyl opened his eyes again, drawing away from Melody's mind, and found Tayend looking over at him. He was writing, holding the pen aloft and smiling at Dannyl.

"How's Mellie?" he asked. Despite his reservations, he'd always had a great fondness for Melody. Dannyl smiled back. How had he ever doubted Tayend? Talking to Mellie always calmed him, even if he hadn't said a word to her about his fears.

"She's well. At least, she says she is. I felt that she was a bit worried about something"

"It's probably something wonderfully trivial, like all the things I worry about" said Tayend airily, "I'm still a teenager at heart, you know"

Dannyl laughed, "Yes, I know" he picked up his pen, about to start writing at last, then turned to Tayend, "What are you writing?"

"A letter" Tayend replied absentmindedly. Dannyl smiled wider.

"For Mayrie?"

"No-one you know" Tayend contradicted, still absorbed in the letter.

Dannyl put down his pen again.

* * *

><p>"Mellie, what's up with you today? You look kind of ill" Lorkin asked anxiously. Mellie was in his room, lounging on the cushions that they had flung on the floor as they always did when they were studying together. It was an extremely comfortable arrangement that had come about as soon as Melody became a novice. As they had always done since that day, Melody's eyes kept darting towards the bed. She reddened.<p>

"I'm fine" she replied, trying to sound mildly surprised, "I feel fine"

She knew that she looked peaky, and she knew why too. The decision to kiss Lorkin had seemed perfectly reasonable, discussed in the sunlight with Sabina, but now it seemed like the most awkward and stupid idea she'd ever had. She's managed to put her father off the scent, but that was different; he hadn't been sitting there looking right at her, like Lorkin was, his gorgeous face puckered with concern.

"You're sure? We could go and get Mum to check you over"

"My mum and Dorrien are Healers too, remember? And honestly, Lorkin, I'm fine" she wasn't sure why the idea of just leaning over and kissing him was making her heart flutter and her palms sweat and her head spin, but she didn't much like it.

"Lorkin..."

"Hmn?" Lorkin looked up from the book he had ducked into and smiled absently, beautifully at her, "What is it, Mellie?"

His lips were only inches away...he was so handsome...if she could just do it...grab the back of his head and force him to meet her lips, force him to respond...but if he didn't want her back, it would be so awkward! He was her best friend. It would be like her blurting out that he was trying to make her jealous all over again, and look how embarrassing that had been!

She was leaning very close to him, quite prepared. Lorkin thought that she might be about to kiss him. She looked nervous. Maybe he should take the initiative and just kiss her. But what if she wasn't actually planning on kissing him at all and it scared her? It might be really awkward. But some of the stuff she'd said at Sabina's party had suggested that she liked him too...but she'd been drunk. She mightn't have meant any of that stuff she'd said at all. But God, she looked so gorgeous, with her hair all messy from laying on those pillows and her eyes wide and bright and those lovely red lips...

"Nothing" mumbled Melody, ducking her head and looking away, "It doesn't matter"


	7. Searching

**A/N: Hey! More updating from me, how amazing am I this week? Sorry, I'm in a really good mood this evening...thought no doubt something will happen to piss me off in a few minutes now I've said that! Thank you so much the reviews, you are angels and I love you (see, told you, good mood!). Anyway, apologies for the rambling, but I just also want to talk about something that the lovely Laura Scofield said, how she felt that Tayend seemed a bit shallow in the last few chapters, and I totally agree with her. I'm sure some of the rest of you think that too, and I completely agree, but, unfortunately, that's how I've always viewed Tayend, even though he is a scholar...I think it might possibly be because I was so jealous of him snagging Dannyl and it biased me against him, but I don't know. Anyway, I'll try to get past that and develop his character a bit more over the storyline with him and Dannyl. Thought I should answer your question, Laura. :) PLEASE REVIEW!**

"Hey" Aurelia grinned at her husband as she emerged from Liliana's room after brushing out her daughter's wispy curls before tucking her into bed, "Did you manage to persuade Arius that he needs to sleep?"

"Just about" Dorrien yawned, pushing away the papers he was marking and smiling at her. She made her way over to sit on his knee and stroked his hair fondly.

"You look cheerful this evening" he teased, playing with her hair also, "What's put you in such a good mood?"

Aurelia looked round her, still grinning, "Are the kids definitely asleep?"

Dorrien frowned, "I think so. Why?" his face lit up suddenly, "Oh! You want to..."

"Oh, no! Well, I'm not saying no, it's just, that's not what I meant" Aurelia babbled, half-laughing, "I have something else. To tell you"

"What?" Dorrien looked suspicious, "Have you and Dannyl decided to elope?"

"No!" Aurelia shrieked with laughter and hit him playfully on the arm, "Good grief, no. It's something much better than that"

Dorrien was still looking wary, "Come on then, tell me"

Aurelia giggled; her eyes were sparkling, "I'm pregnant"

Dorrien stared at her for a few moments, "You're...what? Are you sure?"

"Yes" Aurelia looked at him hesitatingly, "You are pleased, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! Aurelia, that's fantastic!" Dorrien pulled her tightly to him and kissed her fiercely, "My God, that's wonderful! And I thought Arius would be our last!"

"So did I!" Aurelia's eyes were bright with joy, and for a very long time they sat smiling at each other, and began kissing energetically. They were both beaming hugely.

Meanwhile, behind the door, a small four year old boy was listening in his bedroom, dark curls tousled. His lower lip was trembling. If Mummy had another baby, _he _wouldn't be the baby anymore. And he definitely wouldn't be Mummy's favourite little boy if she had another little boy! And Daddy liked having a little boy, but maybe if he had two he wouldn't like Arius as much.

Arius' little face crumpled and, while his parents were still kissing in each other's arms, he ran.

"I'll go and check that they're all definitely asleep" Aurelia murmured after a few moments, dragging her lips away from Dorrien's, "It'll scar them for life if they hear us...you know"

"Hurry back" Dorrien replied softly, and she laughed as she flitted away. She checked on the girls first; even Eden was asleep, and she usually stayed up late to finish whatever book she was reading. Liliana looked to be peacefully dreaming, and Arbella was asleep with her hair in ribbons to make it curl. She made her way to Arius' room. He was very quiet, he usually gave off the most endearing little snores. She pushed the door open a little wider. The bed was empty.

She screamed.

"Dorrien! DORRIEN!"

"What? What is it?" Dorrien came rushing towards his wife, who was screaming as if she had never been more frightened in her life. He, too, stared at the empty bed. Panic clogged up his chest and closed up his throat.

Eden, Arbella and Liliana appeared, faces drawn tight with worry. Liliana was already crying from fear; her mother's scream had startled her. She was clinging to Eden's hand, and Eden was staring at her parents. Arbella was frowning.

"What's going on?" she asked her voice timid, most unusual for Arbella. Dorrien looked at them both, his eyes blank and confused. Eden had burst into tears and was almost hysterical.

"Where on earth could he have gone? Oh, my baby boy! Girls, it's Arius, he's gone from his bed! Oh God, we have to find him!" she shrieked manically, her eyes frantic. Liliana began sobbing heavily and Dorrien robotically held out his arms for her to rush into, his favourite little girl. He looked from Aurelia to the twins, fear plain in his own face.

"He can't have been gone more than five minutes, maybe he's gone to Rothen or Mellie. We'll go and see"

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later Mellie, tossing and turning and unable to sleep, was almost scared out of her wits by a knock on the door. Tentatively she went to open it, and was met by her mother, who seemed more than a little hysterical, and the twins. A globe light hovered above them, spookily illuminating their faces. Eden and Arbella also looked extremely pale.<p>

"Mellie, it's Arius, he's gone!" Aurelia cried, completely losing control, "Is he with you? Is he, Mellie?"

"No, no, he's not with me" Mellie grabbed her robes and began pulling them on, "Is he with Rothen and Sonea?"

"No, we checked there" Eden replied anxiously, "Dad's got Liliana and they're walking round the guild looking for him. Sonea's looking round here and us and Rothen are going to start looking outside. Will you help?"

"Yes, of course! He's my brother" Melody paused in the doorway, "But why did he run off?"

"I think he might have heard something that Dorrien and I were discussing..."Aurelia trailed off, "Which I will tell you about, but not now. I want to find my son!" she grabbed the hands of her daughter, "Oh, Mellie, what if something's happened to him?"

"No-one here would hurt him" Melody pointed out sensibly, trying to hide her worry, "Go on, I'll come outside in a minute. I want to wake Lorkin and see if he can help us"

"Oh, what a good idea" praised Aurelia tearfully, "Come on, girls. Oh, if we don't find him..." her voice carried on floating down the corridor long after she was gone.

Melody stood and pressed her fingers to her temples. Her eyes were welling with tears. She had been the voice of calm reason with her mother, mainly because she'd never seen her like that before, but she was scared that something would happen to Arius. It was dark outside, and although there was no-one to hurt him, he would probably be lost and frightened by now. She choked back a sob and ran to Lorkin's door, banging on it without thinking about what she would do if he had a girl in there. She loved him and he was her best friend and she needed him more than anything at that moment.

"Mellie?" Lorkin looked deliciously handsome in his tousled, sleepy state – she wondered if she looked as good as he did, having just rolled out of bed herself, "What's wrong?"

Melody choked back yet another wave of tears, "It's Arius. He's gone missing. Will you help me look?"

"Oh my God!" he disappeared behind the door and she heard him pulling on some clothes, "Of course I will. Come on"

They ran outside; Lorkin was holding her hand, and Mellie didn't even have time to think about it. She could see her mother's blonde head in the distance, Sonea had gone to the cemetery, and Rothen was walking round aimlessly. Her father and youngest sister had not yet ventured outside.

For what felt like forever, Melody and Lorkin dashed around outside, looking in all the places they could think of, all the places they had played together as children, with no luck. Melody collapsed onto a stone bench and buried her face in her hands.

"What's happened, Lorkin?" she whispered, "He must have got lost! Oh, God, Lorkin, he doesn't like the dark, I bet he's terrified"

"Sshh, Mellie, don't say things like that" Lorkin put his arm around her comfortingly; "He'll be fine. Like Dorrien said, he can't have gone all that far, and we're all looking, It won't take long"

"I'm worried about him, though, Lorkin" she mumbled, looking up at him: and she promptly burst into the tears that she had been fighting. Lorkin held her tightly against him and rocked her gently.

"Sshh, Mellie, don't worry. It's going to be okay, Mel. Stop crying now" he murmured soothingly. She stared at him, snivelling.

"I'm sorry, I'm so stupid – "

"No, you're not; you're worried about your brother" Lorkin brushed a strand of hair, damp with tears, away from her face, "Don't cry anymore. We're going to find him, I promise"

"Lorkin, did you have a girl in your room just now?" she blurted out, still crying, Lorkin stared at her.

"God, Mellie. I won't take offence now, because I know you're upset. But I do wish you'd stop bringing it up" he paused, "I – " he struggled with himself for a minute, then fell silent. She hiccoughed, still sniffing.

"I'm so sorry, Lorkin, I just so – scared!"

"You don't have to be scared" Lorkin replied gently, quietely and without any warning whatsoever, he was kissing her. And despite the fact that Arius was missing, Melody's heart lifted with joy and she kissed him back hungrily, desperately, and it was just how she had imagined, aside from the fact that the kiss tasted salty from her tears.

_MELODY!_

A sudden yell in her mind. Lorkin had obviously been yelled for too; they leapt apart at the same moment.

_We've found him!_ The voice continued, and Melody was able to breathe again. He was safe, her baby brother was safe! And Lorkin had just kissed her!

"Lorkin!" she cried, "Oh, Lorkin, he's alright!" she cried, flinging her arms around him. Lorkin hugged her back, briefly, and jerked away.

"Told you so" he mumbled, "Right, well, we'd better go and find them"

Melody followed him, bemused. She had hoped that he might at least hold her hand, but he was walking ahead as if they hadn't been snogging each other's faces off two minutes previously.

Aurelia, Dorrien, Sonea, Rothen, Liliana and the twins were standing in a clearing not far off where Melody and Lorkin had been searching. Aurelia was squeezing Arius to her as if she'd never let him go, tears streaming down her face. Dorrien had his arm around Aurelia and was stroking Arius' dark curly head as if he couldn't quite believe that Arius was really there. The little boy was still crying.

Aurelia let go of him and crouched down in front of him, her hand on his shoulders. Melody went to stand close by her sisters, but Lorkin walked away from her and went to his mother instead. She frowned. What the hell was going on? Had he just kissed her out of pity, to distract her?

"Sweetheart, you need to tell Mummy and Daddy why you ran off like that! We were so worried about you" Aurelia had wiped her eyes and was looking at her son with determination, "Did something upset you?"

Arius nodded, hiccoughing forlornly, "When the new baby comes you won't want me anymore – "

"What new baby?" Eden interrupted, just as Aurelia began to protest. Melody stared at her mother, who looked slightly sheepish.

"I'm pregnant" she confessed quietely, "I was just going to tell Dorrien, until we were sure that all was well, but Arius must have overheard -"

There were several loud exclamations of delight, mainly from Rothen, Sonea and Lorkin. Rothen clapped his son on the back. Even Eden and Arbella looked pleased, and Liliana clapped her hands with excitement. Melody beamed and winked at her Mum. How lovely, to have a new little baby to look after! But poor Arius, she could understand why he was upset; she had been the same when she found out that her mother was expecting Eden and Arbella.

Aurelia had turned back to her little boy, "Don't be such a silly fool" she scolded gently, "You're my baby boy and I love you lots and lots. I love you and Liliana and Melody and the twins all the same, and I won't love this baby anymore than I love any of you, okay? I promise. It's not possible to love anyone any more than I love all of you" she hugged Arius fiercely and kissed him all over his round, wet face, "Oh, my baby boy"

Melody smiled at the scene. Sonea and Rothen were now crowding Aurelia, Dorrien and the children, their faces bright with excitement. But she was looking over at Lorkin. He looked back at her, but did not smile.

And without a word to anyone, he made his way back to the Novice's Quarters, leaving Melody more puzzled than ever before.


	8. Seduction

**A/N: Oh my God, it's me again with my super-speediness ! Thank SO MUCH for the reviews, I love you all. I've been waiting for this chapter, and I'm pretty sure you guys have too! Please review, thank you so much for reading. Edging towards M-rated here. Just slightly.**

Lorkin did not talk to Melody for over two weeks after the night of The Kiss.

He was moody, sullen and withdrawn – all the girls noticed it, including Sabina, but none of them felt it more keenly that Melody. Lorkin was her best friend, and having him not speaking to her made her days excruciatingly dull and depressing. Plus, they had kissed, something she had wanted for so long, and now to have him pretending that that kiss had not existed...well, it felt like a knife in her gut. In her heart.

And as much as she told herself that he must have kissed her out of pity, to stop her from crying over Arius' disappearance, she knew, deep down, that the kiss had been something more than that. She hadn't imagined the sparks flying between them at that moment, and she certainly hadn't imagined his tight hold on her tiny waist.

She would have felt stupid admitting this to anyone but Sabina, but Sabina listened in complete silence and nodded her head every so often in understanding. When Melody had finished, Sabina's scarlet lips stretched into a Cheshire cat smile.

"Then what are you waiting for?" she asked, both amused and exasperated. Melody frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"You have to tell him how you feel, Mellie. If you're so sure that there was something so strong between you – which would explain why he's not talking to you now – then you have to go and speak with him. Today"

"But I'm supposed to be going to dinner with Mum and Dorrien in five minutes" Melody pointed out, looking anxious.

"I'll go to your Mum and tell her that you have homework to catch up on and sent me to tell you that you couldn't come. That way she won't hear the lie in your mind" Sabina was smiling widely by this point, and gave Melody a sharp shove in the small of her back, "Go on, Mellie! The two of you can't carry on like this"

Melody hugged her friend, said her thanks, and dashed off back to her room. She studied herself in the mirror. She knew exactly what she was going to do tonight, with Lorkin, and there was no way he'd manage to wriggle out of it. That was that. She smiled and tidied her hair in the reflection, dabbed on some scent, plastered a smile onto her face, biting her lips to give them that distinctive cherry-coloured tinge.

She darted across the corridor in the Novice's Quarters and tapped lightly on the door, hoping against hope that he didn't already have some other girl in there, though the way he'd been acting with everyone over the last few weeks would suggest that he didn't.

Thankfully, Lorkin opened the door – alone. He looked mildly surprised and a little annoyed to see Melody standing there.

"Oh. It's you. What do you want?"

"That's a nice way to treat your best friend" Melody said, flirtatiously offended. Lorkin sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry, Mel, I just don't really want company at the moment"

"Tough luck" Melody retorted sharply, "Let me in, Lorkin, for goodness sake. You're acting like a child"

Lorkin opened his mouth to protest, but pushed the door open a little wider instead. Melody closed it behind them and looked at him penetratingly. He sat down on the edge of his bed and patted the space beside him, which she flopped in at once.

"Melody – " Lorkin began, but she cut him off at once, resting a finger on his lips.

"I don't like it when you use my full name, it means you're about to say something horrid. Don't say it" she looked at him; their eyes bore into each other. Lorkin shivered slightly and Melody smiled. She liked having power over men, though it hadn't happened often.

She leaned in and pressed her lips to his. She was tense even as she kissed, waiting for a response.

But she got one. He was kissing her back. Triumph sang and danced in her blood. This was it, he did love her! She had known it all along, but now that it was really happening and they were completely alone it seemed too good to be true.

Lorkin pulled away just as the kiss began to deepen and grow heated, "Mellie, I can't do this"

"Yes you can" Melody whispered, "We both want this"

"No, Mellie, I really can't –"

"Sshh" she murmured, and kissed him again. She wasn't sure where this new boldness of hers had come from, but she liked it. She slipped her tongue between his parted lips and relished the taste of him at last, her fingers tangled in his dark curly hair, and his hands resting tentatively on her lower back, toying with the longer strands of the mahogany hair she had inherited from her father. She was pretty sure that he'd never been this tender and anxious with any girl before; he really must love her.

"Mellie, we can't" Lorkin was looking worriedly at her. She couldn't help it; she was so ecstatic and bold tonight that she laughed, loudly, at his concern.

"Yes, we can" she repeated slowly, firmly. She kissed him once more and this time he relented, his lips becoming almost pliable. She pushed him backwards on to the bed, him laying down, and kissed his neck, nipped the tender skin under his earlobe. He pushed her off again, in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade her.

"Melody, I really don't think that this is a good idea" he said, trying to sound firm. Melody sighed heavily, as though giving in.

"Fine" she said, getting to her feet. Lorkin looked alarmed by this abrupt change of mind, and well he should. Melody turned away from him, and just as he heaved a sigh of relief, peeled off her clothes as quickly as she could, layer by layer. Lorkin gaped at her.

"Mellie, what the hell – "

She turned to face him and smiled, because she knew that she had completely taken his breath away. His eyes roved hungrily over her bare body, zoning in on every feature.

"I bet you think it's a good idea now" she whispered, moving back to the bed. Lorkin looked gormlessly up at her and flopped back down to a laying position. She giggled again, a pretty laugh like tinkling bells, and sat straddling him. He was completely and utterly lost for words.

"Lorkin" she whispered in his ear as she licked and kissed, "I love you"


	9. Dream Come True

**A/N: Hey! Sorry I haven't updated sooner, but thank you so much for the reviews – as you know, they make me so happy :) Please review again!**

The next morning dawned in swirls of pink and grey cloud, a few feeble rays of insipid sunlight falling in maypole ribbons down to the ground. Melody opened her eyes dozily and looked out to the window, only mere inches away from her in the small bedroom. A small child that sounded a little like Arius shrieked with laughter outside. It was still very early.

Melody stretched, back arching, smiling to herself. She was glowing with satisfaction and happiness, eyes twinkling excitedly. Her long dark hair was tousled and she spotted a few small marks around her breasts that she remembered receiving with fondness. She rolled over in bed to look at Lorkin, and found that he was already awake, propped up on his pillow, arms behind his head, looking thoughtfully at her. She smiled at him.

"Morning" she murmured, wriggling closer to him. Hands tucked under her chin, she lay her head on his bare chest and looked up at him cheerfully, "Sleep well?"

"You could say that" a smile broke onto his face too.

"Did you mean it?" he asked suddenly, looking away, "Did you mean it, last night, when you said you loved me?"

She laughed loudly, "Of course I did!" a pause, "Why? You do love me, don't you?"

Lorkin said nothing. Melody gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth and drawing away from him. The sheets slipped as she sat up, and she became aware of his eyes on her.

"You don't love me, do you? That's' why you kept saying no. You're just going to do to me what you've done to all the others after sleeping with them, aren't you?" tears welled up in Melody's eyes, "Oh my God. I am so stupid! I thought you loved me too and really all you wanted was for me to – for me to – "

"No, Mellie!" Lorkin was clearly alarmed; he reached out and grabbed her hand, "No, that's just not true! I would never...not to you...I love you too, Mellie"

Melody stopped crying. She stared at him, her melted chocolate eyes pink and wet.

"What?"

"I love you, Melody. That's not the reason that I kept saying no. There's no doubt in my mind that I love you" his eyes were warm and deep with sincerity. Melody nodded, slowly, and shuffled closer to him again. She angled her body to face his, but did not touch him. Her eyes were unmoving on his handsome face.

"Then what is it?" she asked worriedly. Lorkin sighed.

"It's a few things. You're my best friend, for one. I don't want to ruin our friendship"

"We'd still be best friends. Just with..." she moved closer, curling her leg around his, "Added benefits"

Lorkin chuckled softly, but his eyebrows were still knitted together in a frown, "It's not just that. You are younger than me, remember?"

I snorted, "Oh yes, and that really matters. There's only two years between us, I've seen much bigger age gaps. Look at my mum and dad"

"Your mum and dad didn't last"

"Not because of the age gap!" Melody laughed, "I suppose you think it had nothing to with the fact that my father is a lad?"

Lorkin shrugged, "Well, I know that. But...I don't know. Don't you think people might be a bit...concerned?"

"No, quite frankly, I don't!" Melody huffed, but she was smiling, "None of these so-called reasons mean anything to me, Lorkin"

"There's something else – no, you'll laugh" Lorkin cut himself off abruptly and fell to playing with her hair. Melody slapped his hand away.

"No I won't! Tell me"

"Honestly, Mellie, it's stupid" Lorkin looked away. Melody gasped.

"Oh my God, you're blushing!" she gave a loud shriek of laughter, "Oh, Lorkin, you have to tell me. If you don't, I'll leave right now"

Lorkin looked up again, startled, "Don't go!"

"Tell me then" Melody arched an eyebrow and smiled sweetly. Lorkin squirmed with embarrassment.

"I just...I think that you're too good for me, Mellie"

Melody gave a cackle of laughter. She was finding Lorkin particularly amusing this morning.

"What do you mean? That's a ridiculous thing to say!"

"No it isn't! You're clever – you got early entry into classes, that's never happened to anyone before - and you're fun and kind and affectionate and beautiful and..." he trailed off with a little smile, eyeing where the sheets had slipped down her shoulder, "Well, you're not half bad in bed either"

Melody, still blushing from the compliments, whacked him soundly on the shoulder, "Not half bad!" she echoed, outraged, "I should hope it was a lot better than not half bad!"

Lorkin grinned, "I'm teasing. But you see what I mean?"

"No, I don't. I don't agree with you at all. I love you, idiot" Melody smiled, "I want to be with you. What do you say?"

Lorkin paused, " I say...I say that I fell in love with you when you were a little three year old girl with those lovely dark ringlets who knew exactly how to wrap me round her little finger, and of course I want to be with you"

Melody smiled and kissed him soundly for a very long time. She rolled onto top of him, long hair brushing over his chest, rippling in the thin morning sunlight. She looked up at the view from the window.

"You know" she began as his hands encircled her thighs, "We still have a couple of hours or so before Mum'll be awake and I can go and apologise for not being at dinner last night. You think we can find a way to fill a couple of hours?"

Lorkin tightened his grip on her, and she leaned down to kiss him, "Yes" he replied breathlessly, "I think we can"

* * *

><p>Melody returned to her mother four hours later, looking a little dishevelled but still golden and glowing with joy. She had never felt like this before; she felt wonderful. She felt as though she had been deaf and blind to the world for a very long time, and only now had her senses been awakened.<p>

Aurelia answered the door with Liliana at her side. Liliana was wearing a pretty dress made from scraps that Aurelia had picked up for her from a marketplace in the slums on her way back from working with Sonea at the hospital, and Aurelia was holding a few small leftover pieces that she was showing Liliana how to turn into hair flowers.

"Mellie!" Liliana beamed and flung her arms around her older sister, "Do you like my dress? Mummy made it"

"She made me a dress just like that when I was your age" Melody said fondly, "But you look much prettier in it than I did"

Liliana's smile grew wider and she dashed off to her father. Dorrien was seated, eating breakfast, which he was sharing with Eden. The two of them were talking earnestly about a new medicinal treatment that Dorrien was working on. If he succeeded, the tincture could cure the nasty sores that the people in the slums so badly suffered from. Eden was very excited by this idea and was sat discussing the herbs with her father while he ate. Melody privately thought that Eden would be able to gain early entry too, unlike Arbella, who was singing in a loud, cat-like wail that hurt Melody's ears. Arius was playing quietely with his little wooden figures of magicians that had once belonged to Dorrien. He was absorbed in the game, his lips moving soundlessly as he hosted conversations.

Aurelia embraced her daughter and drew back, wagging a reproving finger, "And where were you last night? I know that your little friend Sabina was lying when she said you had work to catch up on. You always do your work on time. I might believe it of Arbella, when she starts learning – " Aurelia through an anxiously weary look at her third child, still 'singing', "-But not you. And you look so bright and..." Aurelia trailed off, and her eyes grew round as a globe light.

"Melody Marcella Dannyl! You did not – "

"Ssshh!" Melody cried, casting wary eyes around her at her siblings and stepfather, "I'll tell you, just let's speak in your bedroom"

Aurelia hustled her daughter into their room at once, with a reassuring smile at Dorrien, and slammed the door.

"God help me, Melody, I know I made mistakes but I thought I'd bought you up right! What on earth – who on earth - ?"

"Lorkin" Melody whispered, trying to look humbled; but when she looked up at her mother, she couldn't help smiling, "He loves me, Mum"

Aurelia flopped down onto the edge of the bed, hand on her heart, "I shouldn't have to put up with this much stress, I dread to think what's happening to my poor baby, what with Arius running off like that and Arbella kicking up a fuss all the time and you...and you sleeping around!"

Melody looked hurt, "It was just Lorkin, Mum" she decided not to mention the boy she had slept with for her first time two years previously, "He loves me, and I love him. Mum, it's what I was dreaming of, we're together now!"

Aurelia smiled at last, "Oh, darling, that's wonderful! I'm so pleased for you. I told you he'd always loved you" she chuckled slightly, "So that's why you look so pleased with yourself. Oh, sweetheart"

"I know" Melody beamed. Aurelia hesitated again, suddenly.

"I do hope...I mean...we did talk, didn't we, about ways of...preventing things?" she was blushing. Melody had reddened too.

"Yes, Mum! Lorkin was taking care of...that. It's fine"

"Oh, thank goodness" Aurelia breathed a sigh of relief and, finally, hugged her daughter, "Oh, Mellie, I am so happy for you! Isn't it wonderful, being in love when they love you too?"

Melody giggled, "The most wonderful thing in the world!"


	10. Fears

**A/N: I'm really, really sorry! Thank you for your patience and your wonderful reviews! Hope you like this chapter, please review and thanks for reading!**

Dannyl was growing more and more anxious by the day.

Tayend was still writing letters in sprawling script to an unknown recipient, and although all was well between them and they still spent hours a day researching together in the library, Tayend had made excuses and slipped off a few times in the evenings. Dannyl hoped that he was just going to parties with that gaggle of society fishwives whom he was so fond of, but he wasn't so sure.

Tayend had been delighted upon hearing that Dannyl had finished his book and the two of them had spent hours curled up on the sofa, reading through it and editing it together. Dannyl had made a copy and sent it to Melody, who had always been fascinated by his work. He loved moments like this, when he and Tayend were completely united. He knew that they were meant to be together, but he worried that Tayend didn't feel like that anymore.

"Another letter?" Dannyl asked archly one evening. He was seated at a desk in the library with a heavy tome of a book open before him, checking on a detail in Chapter 3 that Tayend had questioned. Tayend was seated opposite him, and unfortunately, Dannyl could not read the writing from the angle he was at.

"Yes" Tayend replied shortly. He was getting sick of Dannyl questioning him all the time. He knew what Dannyl was thinking, he had always been paranoid – but there was nothing going on with him at the acrobat (not that Dannyl knew that that was who he was writing to). They were friends, and Tayend found it comforting to have someone to talk to who wasn't Dannyl. As much as he loved Dannyl, there were something you just couldn't discuss with a partner; that was what friends were for, after all.

"It's pretty long. If you have space, tell Mayrie I said hi" Dannyl pressed, eyeing Tayend thoughtfully. Tayend slammed down his pen.

"For goodness sake, Dannyl! I'm not writing to Mayrie, okay? What does it matter who I write letters to?"

Dannyl looked taken aback, and he knew that his suspicions had been confirmed, "I'm just curious, Tayend. I thought we had all the same friends, and you wouldn't talk to any of them for that length of time, and so frequently?"

"I am allowed to speak to other people, outside of you and Mayrie, aren't I?" Tayend snapped, "I don't complain when you have your cosy little mind chats with Aurelia, do I?"

"You make it sound so sordid!" Dannyl cried, "It's not like that. We've got past all that, we're friends – we have a _child_ to think about!"

Tayend snorted, "Melody isn't a child anymore! And if you can be friends with Aurelia, a woman you've _slept_ with – "

"Don't keep bringing that up, Tayend"

"It's not the sort of thing you can forget! I don't care that the two of you are friends, so don't interfere in my friendships" Tayend snatched up the unfinished letter and the pen, "I shall see you at home" he snapped, "And you'd better drop it, else I'll go crazy"

Dannyl sighed as he watched Tayend flounce out of the room. He buried his head in his hands. He hadn't expected Tayend to get so angry; was that a sign of his guilt? Oh God, he was doing it again? He needed to talk to someone...

_Aurelia?_ He called tentatively, probing for her mind.

_Dannyl?_ She was clearly busy and distracted, and her mind was on another task...something to do with medicine...ah, today must be her day of work at Sonea's slum hospital.

_Oh, I'm sorry, should I try again later?_ Dannyl really hoped she would she no.

_No, no!_ She replied, _I'll just tell Sonea that I'm off to have a little break._ Moments later, he could hear that her mind had stopped buzzing and she was waiting attentively for him to continue.

_I just...I wanted to ask your advice._

_Oh? _Aurelia's voice was polite, inquiring, and he had a feeling that she knew what he was about to say. She was good at that.

_It's Tayend. He's been writing letters._

_Letters? To who?_

_The acrobat. The one I told you about before._

_Oh! Do you know that for sure?_

_Um, Well. No. But he told me he's not writing to Mayrie, and who else would he be writing to so often? He said that he's friends with whoever it is, but I think it might be something more. We just had an argument about it._

_Oh, Dannyl._ Aurelia sighed heavily, _I don't think Tayend would ever do anything like that to you. I mean, he knows how it feels to be cheated on, because of...well, because of us. He wouldn't want you to feel like he did._

_I'm not so sure. He still brings it up sometimes._

_I'm not surprised! It was devastating for him; you can't just expect him to forget. Dorrien still teases me about it sometimes._

_But you and Dorrien weren't together at the time._

_It still annoys him._ Aurelia paused_, I_ _could tell you something to cheer you up a little, because I bet Melody hasn't told you herself._

_Go on. _Dannyl welcomed the change in conversation, though he still didn't feel that Aurelia was quite concerned enough.

_Melody and Lorkin are together!_ Aurelia sounded so cheerful. _Why the hell did she sound so cheerful?_

_WHAT? And you're allowing it?_

_Well...yes. _Aurelia sounded bemused, _I thought you'd be pleased. We've been talking about how in love they are with each other since she was a toddler._

_Yes, but I didn't expect anything to happen! Oh God. I don't like this, I don't like this at all. She's too young!_

_Dannyl, she's only a few years younger than I was when I had her! I didn't expect you to take this view. I thought you'd be pleased. Dorrien was delighted for her, thought it was adorable. I bet Tayend would to._

_She's not their daughter._ Dannyl retorted sharply Is _she safe with him? If he breaks her heart, I'll slaughter him._

_He never would. And I promise you, the two of them are quite taking care of the bedroom situation – _

_Aurelia! _Dannyl cut her off with a cry of horror and felt her giggle, _Good grief! Don't you tell me things like that!_

Aurelia was laughing hysterically by this point, _Oh, I am sorry! But I thought it would put your mind at rest._

_It hasn't. _Dannyl huffed_, But it's certainly taken my mind off Tayend._

_I'm sure that that's nothing to worry about. _A pause. _Oh, I have to go. Someone else had just come in. You'll be alright?_

_Yes, of course. Thanks._

_Say sorry to Tayend! _She commanded_, Bye, Dannyl._

_Bye._

* * *

><p>"Aurelia! Aurelia!" Sonea came rushing up to Aurelia just as she was about to leave. Aurelia sighed. She really hoped that Sonea wasn't going to ask her if she could stay a little longer. She hated spending the whole day without her children, and only did it because it would have felt awful not to help out, when the cause meant so much to her closest friend. Aurelia's hair was tumbling loose of the strict bun it had been in all day, and her face was pink and shining with heat and exhaustion. Working in the hospital was stressful work.<p>

"Sonea?" she pulled out a handful of pins and let her hair loose, hoping to illustrate the fact that she was about to leave. Sonea was looked at her, wild-eyed.

"I haven't had a chance to speak to you. Osen spoke to me last night. We've set a date; for the wedding, I mean"

Aurelia gasped, "Ooh, how exciting! But Sonea...you don't look happy"

"It's all getting too real for me now. Aurelia, I don't think I can do it. He's not Akkarin. I don't love him"

"You don't _love_ him?" Aurelia breathed, horrified. Sonea shook her head frantically.

"No! Well, I mean, I do, but I've been thinking about it a lot, and...I just don't love him in that way"

"Why the Hell has it taken you twelve years to figure this out?" Aurelia hissed, "Sonea, you can't not marry him now, you've said yes, you've started making arrangements!"

"I know, I know" Sonea groaned, "Oh, help me, Aurelia, I don't know what to do!"


	11. Betrayal

**A/N: Hey, me again! I feel very sad, I only got one review for the last one – where have my faithful reviewers gone? I missed you. And it's nearly Christmas (which makes me happy ) – show your Christmas spirit and review! Thank you so much for reading.**

Melody shouldered her bag, once again lamenting how heavy it was, and made her way on to meet Lorkin from his class. If she was correct, he had just had an Alchemy lesson. Lucky thing; she'd just say through the most boring Warrior skills lesson she'd ever had. At least meeting Lorkin would mean he could carry her bag for her.

She walked along in quiet, dreamy contemplation. These last few weeks with Lorkin had been the best time of her life; okay, maybe her mother wouldn't approve if she knew that she stayed in Lorkin's room every night and woke up beside him in the morning, but it was the sort of relationship that she had always hoped for with Lorkin. She hoped Dorrien wouldn't realise that Lorkin was the reason that she had been late to his Healing class twice in the last week. But she had never felt happier, and even if it did interfere a little with her studies, she found that she didn't care anymore. She felt light and free, a feeling that, for some reason, she had never had before. Plus, she thoroughly enjoyed sending Lorkin mind images of the two of them the previous night over dinner with their families. His embarrassment was extremely amusing.

She was practically skipping by the time she reached the classroom. The door was pushed to and she could hear voices from inside, but she could not make out what they were saying. She hoped it was Lorkin in there and he would remember to wait for her.

She cautiously pushed open the door and peeped inside, thinking that it would be embarrassing if she was intruding in someone else's conversation. But no, that was Lorkin in there! She pushed the door open a little wider and made her way in with a smile, then froze on the threshold.

Lorkin was with Lepida, that awful blonde snake from Sabina's party who'd flirted with him for years.

And they were kissing.

Melody gasped, a sharp intake of breath, and tears sprung to her eyes. No. She couldn't be seeing this. No. It couldn't possibly be real!

She only stood there for a matter of seconds when her eyes connected with Lorkin's, which had been wide open throughout the kiss. She turned and fled from the room.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean, you're leaving?" Aurelia looked at daughter in complete bemusement. Melody had announced her intention to leave the moment she set her foot in the room. She was breathing heavily as though she had been running, and tears were tumbling uncontrollably down her cheeks.<p>

"I'm going to stay with Dad. I'm going to stay with him right now" Melody retorted tearfully, "I just came to say goodbye"

"But you have classes!" Dorrien protested, rising from his seat on the floor, where he had been playing with his children. Melody looked at him through bleary eyes.

"I quite honestly couldn't care less"

"But you got early entry!" Eden cut in, looking horrified; she was hoping for early entry into her studies too, "If you fall behind, you might lose that privilege"

"Eden and Dorrien are right, sweetheart!" Aurelia agreed, pulling Melody into a fierce hug, "And you mustn't go"

"I'm not going away forever" Melody briefly hugged her mother back, then shrugged away, "Just a few months or so"

"A few months!" Aurelia shrieked, "You can't leave for that long! What'll I do without you around?"

Eden looked offended by this and turned away with a huff, going back to Liliana. Melody looked at her mother and felt a squeezing in her chest. She didn't want to be without her mother for any longer than a day, even, but she couldn't stay. She thought Lorkin loved her. But he'd obviously liked Lepida all along. And she couldn't stay around to hear his explanations and watch the two of them together.

"I have to go, Mum" Melody mumbled, wiping her eyes, "I'm going to get my things and I'll come and say goodbye to you before I leave, okay?"

"Couldn't you leave it until the morning? Sleep on it?" Aurelia pleaded, looking at her daughter with wide brown eyes. Melody shook her head.

"No, I can't. I need to leave as soon as possible" just the thought of seeing Lorkin after what she had just witnessed made her stomach flip over and fresh tears begin to fall.

"Can't you at least tell me why you're going?" Aurelia cupped Melody's face in her hands and tried to wipe away the heavy flow of tears, "There must be something making you so upset"

"I just saw Lorkin kissing someone else" Melody whispered, so that only her mother could hear. Aurelia gasped and clapped her hands to her mouth.

"You're sure?"

"I know what Lorkin looks like, Mum" Melody replied sharply, but fell swiftly into her mother's arms and let Aurelia rock her as though she were a child. Her tears fell thick and fast onto Aurelia's shoulder.

"I understand" Aurelia murmured, "Oh, my darling, I understand all too well. You go if you have to. I'm sure we can sort out something about your classes. And it's not like your Dad won't be absolutely delighted to have you"

"I'm sorry, Mum, but I can't be here"

"I know, sweetheart, I understand, I do!" she kissed Melody roundly on both cheeks, "You go and pack your things. If Lorkin comes here looking for you, I'll tell him where to go"

Melody smiled feebly, "Good"

* * *

><p>Melody turned up on Dannyl's doorstep in the early hours of the morning. The night before, while she had been packing her things, Lorkin had knocked repeatedly on the door and begged for her to come out for well over an hour. She had sobbed silently into her pillow and refused to reply, finally managing to sneak out after midnight.<p>

"Mellie!" Dannyl cried, his face lighting up in a beaming smile as he flung his arms around his daughter, "I haven't seen you for so long! What are you doing here?"

"I had to get out of the guild for a while. Can I come and stay with you?"

"Of course you can! You can help edit my book!" Dannyl cried delightedly, "But wait..." he held her at arm's length and scrutinised her closely, "This is all a bit sudden. What about your lessons?"

"Mum's going to sort it" Melody mumbled, "I'm...I'm having a bit of a bad time, Daddy"

Dannyl's eyes suddenly darkened and he frowned, "What has that boy done to you?"

Melody's head snapped up, "You mean you know about me and Lorkin?"

"Of course I do. Oh, Mellie, if he's hurt you, I'll kill him" Dannyl swore, squeezing her in a fierce embrace.

"No, no, Daddy, I'm fine, honest" Melody held back more tears as she clung to her father, "I just needed to get away. And I missed you"

"Of course you did. I missed you, too" Dannyl smiled, and then leaned closer to her, "And to be honest, I'm glad you're here" he whispered. Melody looked quizzically at him.

"Why?"

Dannyl's smile fell, "Tayend and I have been having some...trouble, lately. He adores you, and it might help to have a mediator around"

"Oh, Daddy, I'm sorry" Melody looked anxiously at her father. Dannyl shook his head.

"Don't be" he said, smiling affectionately at her, "I think we both need each other at the moment"


	12. Cheat

**A/N: Hey, sorry I haven't updated in a while – I didn't get very many reviews for the last one and it made me sad. Anyway, please review, I hope you like this chapter – and Merry Christmas! *squeals like a five year old child*. Oh, I've had a lot of people lately talking about how Tayend has become a bit OOC in this lately, and I totally agree with you - when I write a character for too long I sort of end up taking them over, which is fine if it's someone I made up, but not too great if it's someone else's creation. So I'm really sorry about that , but it kind of needs to happen this way for the story to progress the way I've planned – sorry!**

"This is really great, Dad" Melody smiled feebly at her father, waving his manuscript in her hand. He and Tayend had been getting on better lately, since she had arrived, and she was glad of it. She had enough problems of her own, without having to deal with theirs. Lorkin tried to contact her mind-to-mind several times a day, and each day she blocked him out with tears in her eyes. She would not speak to him, would not even think about him. She tried, instead, to concentrate on having a good time with her father and Tayend.

"You think so?" Dannyl's face lit up at the praise; Melody's opinion was extremely important to him. She was curled up in an armchair by the fire, the manuscript crinkling in her hands. She held it to him over the back of the chair with a smile, nodding.

"Yes! I think everyone at the guild would love to read it"

Dannyl snorted, "No-one at the guild wants to read anything written by me, remember?"

Melody peered at him over the top of the chair, "But that was a long time ago, Daddy"

Dannyl laughed, ruffling her hair fondly, "They don't forget, Mellie"

"Well, it's their loss" Melody huffed, pouting. She flopped back into a seating position and picked up her Healing notes. If she was going to miss lessons, she'd have to teach herself. There was a long pause as she read through the notes. Then;

"I'm sorry, Daddy".

Dannyl frowned, "About what?"

"If it wasn't for me, you'd be at the Guild still, and everyone there would be able to read your book and tell you how wonderful it is"

"Mellie!" Dannyl exclaimed, "Honestly, you really think that it was your fault?"

Melody turned again, a little frown puckering her forehead, "Well...yes"

"It's not your fault at all, Mellie" Dannyl chuckled, "Your mother is the one to blame, as much as I love her. In a friend way. I have to add that, you know, just in case you get the wrong idea"

Melody laughed loudly, "You've no need to worry about that! I can no more picture you and mum together than I can a dog and a rat!"

They both laughed loudly, and were still laughing when Tayend came in. He had been to the library to check on some more sources for Dannyl, and came tottering in with a pile of books. He smiled when he saw them laughing, but something stayed hidden and reserved in his eyes, making Melody instantly suspicious. Luckily, her father didn't seem to notice it.

"Hi, Tayend" Melody greeted him, wiping her eyes. Tayend smiled feebly at her.

"Hi, Mellie" he plonked the books down on the table, his eyes darting to the still smiling Dannyl, "Could you just leave us alone for a minute, Mellie? I need to talk to Dannyl about something"

Melody knew that Tayend was a scholar, and a bloody good one too, but she'd never seen him look so serious. A frown flitted across her face, but she nodded, rising from her seat and making her way slowly from the room. But, of course, she didn't hasten up the stairs to her room. Instead, she hovered outside the doorway.

And heard something that she knew would break her father's heart.

* * *

><p>Aurelia arrived back from the hospital just in time to see Lorkin, making his way to her rooms. He started when he saw her, and ran to meet her at the door. She had to admit, he did look a bit of a state – but then, after a day at work, she probably didn't look her best either.<p>

"Lorkin" she said coolly, "Excuse me. Rothen's been looking after the children all day, I think he deserves to be let off as soon as possible"

"Aunt Aurelia!" Lorkin looked wounded by her tone, and edged further in front of the door, "Aunt Aurelia, please help me talk to Mellie"

"No" Aurelia said firmly, nudging him out of the way with her shoulder and pushing the door open. She was greeted by two very excited small children and two rather less excited almost- adolescents, and she hugged the two younger ones tightly before turning back to the still hovering Lorkin.

"I'm really not inclined to helping you at all" she said sharply, "You know I love you, Lorkin, but you've hurt my daughter, and I choose her every time. I think you should leave now. None of us are going to help you"

Lorkin looked tearfully up at her, "I really didn't mean to hurt Mellie – but she left before I got a chance to tell her what really happened! I just want to talk to her. But she won't let me mind contact her or anything, and you know I have no idea where Dannyl lives! Please, Aunt Aurelia"

Rothen had appeared beside them and, after kissing Aurelia on the cheek and bestowing a devoted, fatherly smile on her, had begun to eye Lorkin with – well, not with sympathy, but something like pity, perhaps.

"He's sorry, Aurelia, I can see it in his eyes" Rothen said gently, "Go on, at least tell him where she is"

Aurelia glared at her friend and mentor, "He'll only upset her again! Certainly not!"

"Don't you want her back here to support you, now that the pregnancy is progressing?" Rothen asked gently. Aurelia continued to glare for a few moments then, as it dawned on her that if this continued Melody would not be there for the birth, her eyes fixed on her slightly rounded belly. She looked from Rothen to Lorkin, biting her lip, wishing Dorrien had been back to advise her.

With a low and sudden growl of frustration, she moved to a cabinet and produced a scrap of paper with Dannyl's address on, and flung it at Lorkin.

"There, take it!" she snapped, "You can write to her"

Lorkin looked up at her, a smile on his face and eyes shining hopefully, "Write to her? I'll do one better than that – I'm going to see her!"

* * *

><p>"I can't believe it! Oh god, Mellie, what am I going to do?"<p>

Melody had never seen her father cry before. For the first time it was she who cradled him to her and tried, feebly, to comfort him. Tayend had judged it best to disappear for a while, which was probably a good idea - Melody felt that she might have slapped him otherwise. She'd always adored Tayend, but at that moment she truly loathed him. How dare he hurt her father like this?

"He said he only slept with him once, Daddy" she said weakly, tentatively, "That's not so very bad"

"Oh, well, if it's not so very bad, why did you flee here when you saw Lorkin kissing another girl?" Dannyl snapped.

"Oh" Melody mumbled, "You know"

"Of course I do, your mother tells me everything" Dannyl collapsed into tears once again, "I just don't understand why he would do that to me, when he knows how it feels"

"That's probably why, Daddy" she said gently, "Because he's never quite forgiven you. It's not something you can forget"

"Oh God" Dannyl buried his face in his hands, "But Mellie...Mellie, what will I do without him?"


	13. Reunion

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long, I've had such a busy time – I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a very happy New Year! Thank you for your reviews, please review again!**

"Daddy, not another bottle, for goodness sake" Melody snatched the bottle of wine from her father's grasp, scowling at him, and carried it upstairs, stashing it under her bed with the other confiscated bottle. Tayend had not dared to return since his argument with Dannyl, though letters arrived daily. Dannyl read these letters in tears, then shredded them and threw them away, losing himself in another bottle of wine. Melody could not persuade him, no matter how hard she tried, to contact Tayend; yet she understood. She hadn't tried to contact Lorkin either.

"Mellie..."Dannyl groaned, "Don't be mean, Mellie"

"It's not going to help you" Melody retorted sharply, "You're exhausted too, look at you, you haven't had a wink of sleep in days. Why don't you try and get some rest?"

"You're a good girl, Mellie" Dannyl yawned in reply. Melody couldn't help smiling at that, though she rolled her eyes.

"Someone has to be" she kissed his forehead and threw a blanket over him, shutting the door as she left the room. She stood in the hallway for a few moments, swaying on her feet with her own tiredness. If she wasn't worrying about her father, she was thinking about Lorkin and how he'd stopped trying to talk to her. He'd probably given up and was quite happy with that little slut Lepida now.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and her eyes welled with tears. She wasn't surprised he didn't want her; she looked terrible, with her hair all ratty and grey circles around her eyes. Why would he ever choose her over Lepida, who had always looked immaculate? She wished she could see her mother. They spoke, of course, but what she really wanted was a hug.

A knock came at the door. Melody thought that it might be that kindly old man from the library, she forgot his name, because surely it couldn't be Tayend?

"Melody!"

Lorkin stood there on the doorstep, as handsome as ever, and he took Melody's breath away. She could say nothing, just stood there a few moments, looking dumb.

"How the Hell did you find out where my Dad lives?" she asked at last, glaring at him. Lorkin looked slightly abashed.

"I forced it out of your Mother. She didn't seem to like it, but here I am all the same"

Melody snorted, "And what makes you think I'd want to see you? Get out of here" she made to shut the door, but Lorkin jammed his foot in the way.

"Come on, Mellie, I just want to talk to you" he pleaded, "Mellie, let me in"

She regarded him for a few moments, then sighed and allowed him in.

"You'll have to talk to me here; Dad's asleep in the main room. I assume you heard about him and Tayend?" her arms were folded and she did not look particularly inviting, but Lorkin could see that she still loved him, and she wanted to forgive him.

"Yes, Rothen did mention it" there was a long pause, "Look, Mellie, nothing happened with Lepida – "

Melody laughed, loudly, then covered her mouth, eyes darting towards the room where her father slept, "You can't say that when I _saw_ you kissing her"

Lorkin lurched urgently towards her and grabbed her hands, but Melody shook them roughly out of his grasp.

"Don't touch me" she snapped. He took a step back, but the urgency was still there.

"No, Mellie, you don't understand! Lepida was hovering around me after class, you know what she's like, and she said that I shouldn't be with you – said some horrible things about you, actually, I don't know what you've done to upset her – and I put her straight, obviously. But she didn't like that, and she sort of flung herself at me, and...and kissed me. And for a minute I was too stunned to do anything, but as soon as I caught on I pushed her away – but she clings like a limpet, and then I saw you, and I gave her this massive shove. She fell over, she's going around telling all the other novices that I've beaten her up, but I don't care to be honest, because all I care about...well, all I care about is you" he squirmed slightly as he spoke. Melody still had her arms folded and her eyebrows were raised.

"Really, Lorkin? How cliché" she huffed. Lorkin groaned, frustrated.

"For God's sake, Mellie, what do I need to say?"

"I don't know" Melody mumbled, and became suddenly and acutely aware that she was crying. She turned away from him, wiping her eyes, "I think you should just...I don't know. Things are kind of weird at the moment, with all this stuff going on between Dad and Tayend. I don't really know if I believe you or not"

"Of course you believe me. You know Lepida" she felt his arms encircle her waist from behind and, cursing her own weakness, she leaned into him.

"I suppose so" she replied sulkily, but when he brushed back her hair and pressed a gentle kiss on her neck, she did not protest. There was a long, comfortable silence.

"I could stay with you for a while" Lorkin offered, "Help you out with the mess that is your father's love life?"

Melody laughed, sniffling slightly, "Yes. Yes, alright. You can stay"

"I love you, Melody" Lorkin whispered in her ear. Then; "I've missed you, you know"

"I've missed you too" Melody replied, smiling, and turned her head so that her lips met his. They stayed that way for what felt like hours, though in reality it was only a few minutes, then Lorkin grinned at her.

"Didn't you say Dannyl was asleep?" he asked suggestively. Melody laughed incredulously.

"I can't believe you! I haven't forgiven you that much! Anyway, we should be thinking up a plan to get Tayend and Dad back together"

"How about we think about you and me instead?" Lorkin offered. Melody sighed again, then, with a grin all of her own, took his hand and drew him up the stairs.


	14. Problem Solving

**A/N: I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY! You are perfectly allowed to hate me, I can't believe it's been this long since I updated. I feel awful, I really do. I'm sorry! Please forgive me, and please read this even though it's been such a long time! A review would be nice, but I understand if you're too angry with me to leave one. Wow I feel bad. Sorry again!**

"I spoke to Melody earlier" Aurelia told Dorrien with a yawn as she snuggled against his chest in bed, "Lorkin came to find her"

"Oh?" Dorrien looked wary, "Is she angry with you for sending him?"

"No, thank goodness! It sounds like they're back together and he's staying with them for a while. She says it was just a misunderstanding"

"I'm glad to hear it. You think she'll come home soon?" Dorrien was stroking Aurelia's hair as he spoke, winding the golden braid around his finger. She smiled wistfully.

"I wish she would, but it doesn't seem likely at the moment, not with poor Dannyl all alone and so upset" her voice had softened with sympathy. Dorrien frowned, abruptly moving his hand away from her hair and propping himself up on his elbow to look down at her. She looked bemused by the expression on his face.

"Poor Dannyl?" Dorrien echoed, looking irked, "Poor _Dannyl_? What about Tayend?"

"What _about_ Tayend?" Aurelia sat up too, frowning with him, "Tayend cheated on Dannyl! Dannyl's the victim here"

"You're only saying that because the two of you have a history. It's Tayend you should feel sorry for"

"What? I'm saying it because Dannyl and I are friends. And why would I feel sorry for Tayend? That makes absolutely no sense"

"It makes perfect sense! Aurelia, Dannyl was obviously neglecting Tayend, and it's not like Tayend's ever really gotten over Dannyl fathering a child with you. It's not something anyone would forget easily. Tayend's just getting his revenge at last"

"What a ridiculous thing to say!" Aurelia had jumped out of the bed, glaring at him, and was pulling on a silken night robe, "You make it sound as though Tayend was right to cheat on Dannyl! Cheating is _never_ right, surely?"

Dorrien snorted, "That's rich, coming from you. You were the one who caused all these problems between them in the first place, problems that have probably been simmering under the surface all these years until Tayend just couldn't take it any more-"

"I can't believe you just said that to me! What happened between me and Dannyl happened a long time ago, and it was a mistake, and the only good thing to have come out of it was Melody. How dare you even bring it up? It's in the past, it's got nothing to do with anything!"

"It's got everything to do with everything! Tayend has never forgotten it, and neither have I!"

"You and I weren't even together then! It's nothing to do with you!"

"But I was in _love _with you, Aurelia!" Dorrien yelled, "I was in love with you, and I had to just sit back and wait for you to realise that you were making the stupidest mistake of your life"

Aurelia was silent for a few moments, as was he. Their eyes burned into one another. Aurelia could see the heads of the children peeping through a gap in the door, but there was no way she was dropping the argument here, and there was no way to make then unhear what had already been said.

"I didn't know, Dorrien! I was in love with Dannyl, and I was blinded by it! You'd only just walked into my life, and you seriously thought you'd grab my heart within _days_? Don't be ridiculous"

"All I'm saying is that Tayend had the right to do to Dannyl what Dannyl did to him"

"You make it sound as though cheating is right" Aurelia's voice was cold, lips pressed tightly together. Dorrien looked icily back at her.

"Maybe it is, in the right circumstances" he said at last. Aurelia gasped as though he'd hit her around the face.

"You shouldn't say that" she whispered, "You wouldn't be saying that if you had seen what it can do to people. What _I made_ it do to people. It's not right, Dorrien, not in any circumstance"

"If it bothers you that much now, maybe you shouldn't have acted like such a slut at the time" Dorrien retorted sharply. As soon as he had said it, he realised his mistake, but nowhere near as keenly as Aurelia did. Huge tears welled in her eyes and fell rapidly down her cheeks. Her father had called her names like that when she had gotten a little older; when he was convinced she'd been 'sharing her favours', as he put it, with other boys. Dorrien knew that.

"Aurelia – "Dorrien rose and reached out towards her, but she turned swiftly aware from him, her body shaking with sobs.

"Do NOT talk to me. Just DON'T. I'm going to sleep in Rothen's rooms. I'll be back in the morning for the children"

She stormed out of the room, tears staining her beautiful face, while Dorrien wished he could take back every word that had just left his mouth.

* * *

><p>"It's not going to work" Melody hissed to Lorkin as she shut the door on her father, "As soon as he sees Tayend, he'll run for it. He's not ready"<p>

"By the time he has a chance to look Tayend in the eye it'll be too late" Lorkin replied convincingly, "Anyway, there's nothing unusual about a trip to the library with you, is there?"

"Not normally. We go everytime I visit. I think he's a bit reluctant this time, though, as he hasn't been out of the house for weeks, and that might make him suspicious" Melody tore at a hangnail with her teeth, "Plus he's still not too happy with you, even though I told him that I was mistaken"

"I can deal with your father glaring at me for a few hours, Mellie, as long as it makes him happy again. And you. I can tell that this is taking a toll on you" he kissed her alabaster cheek, "Everything's going to be fine"

"And you're sure Tayend wanted to meet Daddy to ask him to get back together? Because if he just wants to dump Daddy properly, I can't allow that. I don't want him upset anymore"

"Yes, I promise, Tayend wants your father to forgive him. He misses him"

"I hope you're right" Melody murmured, squeezing his hand, "Oh, God, I hope everything goes to plan. Daddy'll be devastated if it doesn't"

"Stop worrying! If you carry on like this I'll leave you alone in the library with the pair of them"

She looked up at him with frantic eyes, "Don't you dare!" an elbow to his ribs, "You're staying right by me the whole time. You promised"

"And I always keep my promises" Lorkin smiled at her and Melody had to smile back, especially when her father emerged from his room, looking in a better state than she'd seen him since Tayend left.

Dannyl gave Lorkin a withering glance before turning to his daughter, "Must we go out today, Mellie? I know you only want to help, but I don't really feel like it, if I'm honest"

Lorkin could see Melody dithering, softening in the face of her father's reluctance, and gave her a sharp nudge with his elbow, against her slender hip. Melody's eyes darted to his and she visibly strengthened.

"No, Daddy, I'm desperate to go, and you know how much you love the library. I just know you'll feel better once you're there. Plus, Lorkin's never seen it"

Dannyl glowered at Lorkin again and nodded at Melody with resignation.

"Alright, Mellie. For you"

* * *

><p>Melody would never forget the expression on her father's face when he saw Tayend sitting at the table in the reading room, anymore than she would never know what the two of them said to one another that sunny afternoon. Once or twice she thought she heard crying from her position with Lorkin outside the double doors, guarding the room from entry, but Lorkin insisted that she shouldn't investigate, and she knew he was right.<p>

They waited for almost three hours, Lorkin holding Melody's hand and massaging her palm. Melody held a conversation with her mother during which a still upset Aurelia broke down in tears several times and confessed to her daughter that she wasn't sure how she could ever forgive the way Dorrien had spoken to her. Melody sighed. She was on her way to getting one parental unit sorted, and now the other was falling apart. Just what she needed.

Dannyl and Tayend emerged from the room at last, tearful but smiling, and Melody knew at once that they had made up. She flung her arms around her father with enthusiasm, kissing him on both cheeks, but was more wary around Tayend; she was still a little angry with him, even if Dannyl was not.

"Oh, come on, Melody! A hug for your favourite stepfather?"

Melody looked coolly at him for a very long time. Then a slight grin crept onto her face.

"Who said you were my favourite?" she asked, eyebrows raised. Tayend grinned too and ruffled her dark curls.

"That's my girl"

* * *

><p>Melody decided it was time for her and Lorkin to return to the Guild when she realised that her father and Tayend were acting as though they were on some sort of honeymoon. Frankly, they were making her feel a little sick.<p>

"You look after my baby this time around" Dannyl ordered Lorkin sternly, but with his first smile for him since his arrival. Lorkin smiled back sincerely.

"Of course I will"

Melody kissed Tayend, smiling at him too, "And you look after Daddy this time around"

Tayend laughed exuberantly, "Of course I will, Mellie. See you soon"

"I hope so" Melody moved to Dannyl, who held her for a long time.

"Thanks for helping me, darling. I don't know what I would have done without you"

"It's my job" Melody replied, squeezing him tighter, "You'll come and visit soon?"

"Definitely. Good luck with your mother and Dorrien! I'm sure they'll work it out"

"I do hope so. I'm not sure I can take much more of this" she laughed and she and Lorkin mounted the horses they had bought with them from the Guild, "Love you lots, Daddy!"

"Love you too, sweetheart!" Dannyl called after her, and he and Tayend stood on the doorstep waving until Melody and Lorkin had disappeared into the distance.


	15. Stories

**A/N: Hi – I'm going to try and update this pretty regularly again now, especially as there's actually not much left. Thank you so much for the reviews, you are the most AMAZING readers EVER and I love you! Thank you Please review this chapter and thank you for reading.**

"Aurelia! It's two in the morning!" Rothen exclaimed as he opened the door and found his novice standing there, red eyed and clutching a pillow and blanket under her arm, "Whatever is the matter?"

"Your son!" Aurelia snapped, "Your bloody son, that's what. I'm coming to stay with you in my old room. Just for tonight"

"I'm guessing you've had some sort of argument?" Sonea inquired sleepily as the door shut behind Aurelia and Rothen, peeking her head around the door of her own bedroom, "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it. He's a bastard and I hate him" Aurelia retorted sharply, marching into her old bedroom and shutting the door with a slam. Rothen and Sonea exchanged a glance.

"Oh dear" murmured Sonea, "You don't think he cheated on her, do you?"

Rothen stared at her, "No, Sonea, I do not. This is my son we're talking about, remember?"

"You think it's just one of Aurelia's tantrums, then?"

"_I heard that_!" Aurelia bellowed from behind the bedroom door, "And no, he did not cheat on me. Go to bed!"

Rothen grimaced and made his way back to his bedroom. Sonea looked at the closed door for a few moments, wondering what to do. She reached out and put her hand on the doorknob.

"Don't you _dare_ come in here!" Aurelia hissed from the other side, "Goodnight!"

Sonea near ran back to her bed.

* * *

><p>Aurelia waited until the time Dorrien usually left to teach classes before she returned to their rooms. Eden opened the door, looking wary, and pushed her glasses up her nose. That was not a good sign – she did it both when she was nervous and when she was lying.<p>

"Morning, Mum" she said, opening the door wider. Aurelia kissed her daughter's cheek.

"Morning, darling. Sorry I wasn't here for breakfast. Is everyone up?"

"Yes. It's just Arbella – you know what she's like" Eden rolled her eyes. Aurelia smiled wearily.

"Yes. Oh, hello, darlings!" she held out her arms as Arius and Liliana launched towards her, "I was only a few minutes late – goodness, you must have missed me!"

"They're not the only ones"

Aurelia's warm smile fell, her jaw clenching as she straightened. Arius and Liliana recognised that look as meaning that mummy was extremely angry, and they backed away. Eden, after a covert nod with her father, who was seated at the breakfast table, led them off to their bedroom to play.

"You're supposed to be teaching" said Aurelia coldly, not looking at Dorrien as she stooped to pick up some of the toys on the floor.

"I took the day off. I thought you might be intending to stay away for the whole day to calm down – I thought I should look after the kids"

"You thought I'd just neglect my children for the day? Ha. You really don't know me at all, do you?"

"We need to talk about the things that were said, Aurelia"

"I'd rather not. I'm here now, you can go and tell whoever's covering your lessons that all is well. I'll see you for dinner"

"Aurelia, for goodness sake, look at me!" Dorrien demanded loudly. Aurelia jumped, but his raised voice had the desired effect; she turned to face him. Her arms were folded across her chest and her expression filled with pure loathing. Her belly bulged with their fifth child, her sixth.

"Come and sit down. Please" his voice was gentle now. Aurelia sat at the end of the table, far away from him.

"I'm sitting down because the baby's kicking. Not because you told me to" she told him, like a sulky child.

"Okay" Dorrien humoured her, looking at her with anxiety. Her eyes were red raw from crying – he couldn't believe he'd been so cruel to her.

"You want to hear a story?" she asked, voice bitter. Her fingers twisted the material of her green robes tightly.

Before Dorrien could answer, she had continued.

"When I was twelve, I started making friends with boys. Nothing romantic or anything; it's just that I've always gotten on better with men than women, and none of the girls in our neighbourhood wanted to talk to me anymore. The girl I had told about my father saw fit to tell all her little friends so they could all laugh at the little freak Aurelia together – just a shame none of them told their parents" she paused, swallowing, "I liked having friends, and it was more fun being friends with the boys – there were fights and things, even though we were almost teenagers by that point. They made me forget about my father. But my father found out and-and he didn't like it. He thought that maybe I was flirting with them – he was convinced I was, in fact. There was this one night, he decided it couldn't continue anymore. He told me to stop being friends with all the boys who lived near us, told me I wasn't allowed to see them. I told him that they were my friends and I'd stay friends with them no matter what. He-he really didn't like that" she closed her eyes briefly to hold back tears, "He grabbed my hair and snapped my head back, he was pulling really hard – I thought he might be going to kill me. He told me that if I stayed friends with them, he'd kill me. And me – oh, I was so stupid, I thought I could make him change his mind – I said that I'd stay friends with them all the same. He beat me. He tugged out chunks of my hair, I was covered in bruises for weeks. He raped me and it – it hurt. I mean, it had hurt me before, but not like that. He kept telling me that it was all my fault he was hurting me, because I was a useless slut, a stupid slut, an ugly slut. I thought I was going to die" a trickle of tears slid down her face, dripping onto her robes, "Obviously I didn't. I didn't speak with the boys again either. None of them tried to make me befriend them again. Not one. They didn't miss me"

Dorrien was struck completely speechless. He had tears in his own eyes – Aurelia had told him a lot about the situation with her father, but she had never told him that before. He now understood all too clearly why what he had said to her had upset her so much. The last man who had called her a slut had made her life a misery, had hurt her, had scarred her for life, and now he had called her exactly the same thing. Dorrien rose from his seat and knelt on the floor in front of her. She still did not look up. He reached out and cradled her hands in his own.

"Lia" his voice was husky from the tears he held back, using the name he had only ever used when they were completely alone, in their most intimate moments, "Lia, you have to listen to me. I am sorry. I am so, so sorry. I had no idea – I would never – I would never want to hurt you in that way. I didn't mean it; it was a stupid argument that went way too far"

"You really hurt me, Dorrien. I didn't want to ever be made to feel how he made me feel again, and you did that last night" she met his eyes at last, still crying, her chocolate coloured eyes looking as though they were melting.

"I know, I know!" Dorrien lifted the hands he held in his own and kissed them both, desperately trying to appease her, hating himself for how he had made her feel, "Aurelia, Lia, I love you so much. You know how much I love you, how I've always tried to protect you, how I've never wanted to hurt you"

"I know. I love you too, you know I do. I just – I don't know how to forgive you for that"

Dorrien reached out and gently wiped away the still-falling tears, "How about I tell you a story this time?"

She looked at him with mute assent. Dorrien smiled softly.

"I was coming on a normal visit, just a routine check up on my father, because he'd sent me a letter about his latest novice. She sounded kind of troublesome to me – I was determined to take her one side and tell her to stop stressing my father out. I was on my way there, and I saw this girl in the corridor, all curled up on the floor. I couldn't see much of her, but she had the most beautiful hair, like...like a waterfall of silken sunshine. She was crying, and when she looked up at me I felt as though I might just be drowning in her eyes. She didn't know, she didn't have a clue – she was even a little rude to me – but that was what I liked about her. Not only was she the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, but she was brave and clever and she had guts. I married her sixteen years ago, and she is still the most perfect woman in the world, the only woman I have ever loved and the only one I ever will. I don't care that she gets scared sometimes or that she has a past, because she is mine, she's the mother of my children, and I want to die with her holding my hand and looking at me with those beautiful brown eyes"

Aurelia was smiling, reluctantly, as though she didn't really want to smile. She was crying even more now.

"What's her name?" she asked, voice thick. Dorrien chuckled.

"Her name is Aurelia, and she is the love of my life"

They looked at each other for a long time. Then Aurelia threw her arms around his neck and Dorrien held her as she sobbed.

"I won't ever hurt you, Lia. Never again. I promise"


	16. Unexpected

**A/N: Hi! I'm back again after all those horrid exams and feeling A LOT more cheerful. Sorry about the hiatus, but I didn't really have a choice. And trust me, it depressed me. Thank you so much for reading and for the previous reviews, and please review again – there's a big twist coming!**

"Mellie!" Aurelia flew at her eldest child and grabbed her tightly, "Mellie, I'm so glad you're home!"

Melody did not struggle in her mother's arms as she so often had before, but embraced her instead, laughing.

"I missed you too, Mum" she pulled away, smiling, "So is everything okay now, between you and Dorrien?"

"Oh, yes, everything's fine!" Aurelia confirmed breezily. As she stepped away from her daughter Melody let out a gasp.

"Oh, wow, Mum! You're _huge_!"

"Thanks" Aurelia rolled her eyes, "That isn't what I wanted to hear"

"Sorry" Melody dumped her bag down on the floor and held out her arms to greet her youngest siblings. Arius clung to her knees and Liliana, slightly taller, gripped her waist, while Melody squeezed them both closer.

"I missed you two! Have you missed me?"

"No" Liliana lied at the same time as Arius said "Lots". Both Melody and her mother laughed.

"Where are the twins?" Melody asked, curling up on the sofa with a hot cup of raka and the mother she had so missed.

"Arbella wanted to go into town and Eden agreed on the one condition that she could go to the library. Arbella was rather reluctant, but they've gone and I've had no reports of fighting from either of them yet, so it must be going fine. Have you seen all the fuss going on outside?"

"Yes! Lorkin and I couldn't work out what could be going on. I've never seen the grounds decorated like that"

"Yes you have, you just don't remember it. They looked like that when I got married" Aurelia corrected wistfully.

"Oh? Is something getting married?" Melody asked, with a vague but bright interest.

"Yes. Sonea and Osen"

"What? But Lorkin had no idea"

"It's all happening very suddenly – more suddenly than Sonea expected it to, at least. I think she's still having doubts"

"She does love Osen though, doesn't she?"

"Yes, but she knows she is capable of loving more"

"Poor Sonea" Melody offered up feebly and forlornly.

"Yes" Aurelia agreed with a weary sigh that told Melody she had had a lot of dealing with the problem, "Poor Sonea"

* * *

><p>"Aurelia? I need to talk to you"<p>

Aurelia sighed inwardly. She'd been expecting another of these little chats. Sonea looked as though she hadn't slept in days and had a permanent frown etched in her forehead.

"Come in" Aurelia agreed, ushering her into a chair. Dorrien had just got home from teaching and was eating dinner with the children. Aurelia's grew cold on the plate as she listened to Sonea's worries.

"I'm not sure I can go through with this wedding, Aurelia. It's such a big commitment, and I'm not entirely sure of anything! I do love Osen, I just – "

"Sonea, it's just nerves. I was nervous before I married Dorrien, and that's normal! It's scary, agreeing to tie yourself to another person until the day you die. But that's what love is all about. Trusting someone enough to put your entire soul in their keeping"

"Do you really think it's just nerves?" asked Sonea desperately.

"Yes" Aurelia said firmly, "I do. The wedding is a week from Friday, Sonea, by the time you get to the day of the wedding you'll be wondering what you were ever scared of, I promise. Trust me"

Sonea sighed heavily, "Alright. Okay. I trust you"

"Good. I should hope you do" Aurelia hugged Sonea, relieved, though she knew it would only be temporary, "What does Lorkin think?"

"He's really happy for us, he's known Osen all his life and he thinks it's about time we took the next obvious step"

"Well then, nothing to worry about at all, is there?" Aurelia responded cheerfully, getting up to make drinks.

Sonea did not look convinced.

* * *

><p>"Why isn't Daddy here yet?" Liliana asked plaintively as Aurelia tucked her up in bed the next night. Arius had asked the same question when she put him to bed a half-hour before.<p>

"I told you, sweetheart, there's a meeting of teachers in the Night Room today, and Daddy was told that he had to attend. He won't be long now, but you'll have to see him in the morning, okay?" she kissed the pouting little girl's forehead and snapped out her own globe light, "Goodnight, Ana. Sweet dreams"

"Sweet dreams, Mummy"

Aurelia blew a kiss over her shoulder as she left the bedroom of her three daughters and shut the door behind her. Melody had finally given in to Arbella's demands and taken her off to a party, and had dragged Eden along for some much-needed fun. They would apparently be back rather late, but Aurelia was glad of the peace.

She had just settled down on the chair with one of Dorrien's books when there was a knock at the door. She desperately hoped it wasn't Sonea. Grabbing her night robe, she moved towards the door and pulled it open with a warm, welcoming smile.

The smile fell from her face as she saw someone she had always believed to be out of her life for good.

"Hello, sweetheart"

Aurelia could not speak, think, move_, breathe_, even. She felt dizzy.

"Why, Aurelia! Haven't you got one nice word to say to me? After all, I haven't seen you for...a long time. And you're all grown up now, aren't you? Very...grown up"

Aurelia gulped, mentally screaming, "Hello, father"


	17. Revenge

**A/N: Hey! Sorry for the cliffhanger of the last chapter, but there's another one coming! Thank you so much for your lovely reviews -please leave some more! Thanks for reading. WARNING: This chapter contains a sensitive topic and mature themes.**

"That's better" Aurelia's father leered, "You look surprised to see me"

"I thought you were dead" Aurelia whispered, "They said you were dead, because of the debts"

"I _faked_ my death because of the debts" her father corrected, his eyes fixed unnervingly on hers, "Are you not going to let me in? Be a bit hospitable to your old dad?"

"My husband will be here soon" Aurelia blurted out; she was trembling all over, she couldn't believe this was happening, she wanted to scream but she'd forgotten how to go about it, "You should go"

"Ah, yes" before she knew what was happening, her father had forced the door open and shut it behind him. Aurelia closed her eyes briefly and prayed that Liliana and Arius would stay in bed, that the twins and Mellie would not return just yet. She went to call Dorrien in her mind, but her father suddenly grabbed her wrist, making it snap back. Aurelia's eyes flew open and she winced with pain. Her father's face was very close to hers, his breath stinking of alcohol.

"I've heard all about your husband. Don't try to call him. Five children you've got now, haven't you?" his eyes slid to her stomach, "And another on the way. I always knew you were a slut"

Aurelia flinched, "Stop it. Why are you doing this?"

"You didn't think you could get away from me, surely, Aurelia? You're my daughter. You're my property. You should never have gotten married" he traced his fingertip along the line of her jaw, over her plump lips, "You're my whore"

"Stop it!" she slapped his hand away, but paid for it with a slap to her face, stinging just the way they had when she was a child. Tears sprang to her eyes, "I'm not a child anymore, you can't treat me like this!"

"Who says?" her father wrenched her arms behind her back and pushed her against the wall, "Go on, try calling for your husband. He won't come for you"

"What have you done to him?" she asked, heart sinking with fear, the scream still stuck in her throat.

"Me? Oh, I've done nothing, sweetheart. But he won't come for you. He only married you because you are a slut. Why would anyone but me want you? It was kind of me, to treat you the way I did when you were a child. I did the right thing for you. No-one else will ever care about you the way I do. Look at you. No-one else can possibly want you. No-one"

The words poisoned her mind, just as they had done all those years ago. It was hard for her to get past them, to call for Dorrien's help. She knew she couldn't close her eyes, though she found it difficult to call mentally without doing so, because her father would know she was calling for help. Staring her father straight in the eye as his venomous words rolled over her, she called in her mind to the man she loved.

_DORRIEN! DORRIEN! DORRIEN! HELP! MY FATHER IS HERE! HELP!_

Her father's hand grappled with her breasts through her robe, though she wriggled and squirmed and kicked, but with her hands behind her back she could do little to save herself. He pushed up her robes, his hand sliding up her leg, pinching and twisting the flesh, moving up to her thighs...

Aurelia's father was suddenly and viciously yanked away from her and brought to the ground. Aurelia, gasping for breath and with tears streaming down her cheeks, had never been gladder to see Dorrien in all her life.

He had pinned her father down and was punching him, repeatedly, over and over again. Her father made no sound, no attempt to fight back, and Aurelia wondered if Dorrien had maybe knocked him out. But she was wrong.

Recovering some strength, her father managed to push Dorrien off of him and move once again towards Aurelia; before Dorrien could knock him to the floor, he had sent a well-aimed heat strike at Aurelia's stomach.

This time, she did scream, crumpling to the floor in agony. She wrapped her arms around her belly, gasping, howling in agony. Blood pooled quickly on the floor around her.

Dorrien saw. And without a moment's hesitation, without a second thought for the implications of what he was about to do, he snapped the neck of Aurelia's father, and the man who had tormented her childhood and had returned to haunt her that very night, breathed no more.

Liliana and Arius appeared from their bedrooms, Arius in tears and Liliana pale with anxiety. Dorrien had run to Aurelia and was kneeling beside her. Tears still flowed down her cheeks, and the blood was still running.

"Dorrien..." she gasped, "Dorrien – you – the baby – my father – help – baby- " she was panting with the pain, which did little to help her coherence.

"It's going to be okay, he's gone now, I'm going to help you. Lia, the baby's going to be fine" he turned to Liliana and Arius, hardly able to believe what he was about to ask of them, "Liliana, Arius, you need to go and find Grandad and Sonea, alright? Tell them it's an emergency. Bring them here. Then try and find Mellie, tell her something's happened and you need her to look after you, alright? Tell her not to worry, that Mummy's just feeling ill and needs to be on her own"

Liliana, only eight years of age, straightened her shoulders and nodded as though the weight of the world were upon her shoulders. Taking Arius' hand, she did not spare a glance for the dead man on the floor or the crimson liquid at her mother's feet.

"Yes, Daddy" she hesitated by the doorway – Arius was still wailing with fear, "Is Mummy going to be okay?"

"Mummy's going to be fine" Dorrien promised, and his two youngest children departed. He reached out into Aurelia's body with his mind, something both of them had avoided doing through all her pregnancies, to avoid spoiling the surprise.

"Is the baby okay? The baby...please..." Aurelia was still sobbing, still in terrible pain. Dorrien searched with his mind, looking for the second heartbeat, the other life. He could find nothing, he could hear nothing – but the baby was six months old in her belly now, if she had miscarried they would have seen it, it would have just come early, where was –

Dorrien breathed a huge sigh of relief as he found their child, still growing, still developing, and still clinging on to life.

"It's fine, Aurelia, it's going to be fine! He's okay!"

"_He_?" she queried, "He?"

Dorrien reached in to stop the flow of blood, and when this was done, he withdrew his mind from Aurelia's body. She looked up at him with streaming eyes, and flung her arms around his neck. Dorrien gently picked her up, cradling her to his chest, and carried her to their bed, where he laid her with care. He stroked her hair back from her face.

"Did you kill him?" she asked tearfully. Dorrien nodded.

"Yes"

"Oh, thank God" she closed her eyes briefly, "He was going to – he tried to – "

"You don't have to say it. Ssssh. I know" Dorrien tried to avoid looking at the corpse on the ground.

The door opened suddenly. Rothen and Sonea stood there, both looking to be half asleep. Sonea screamed when she saw the body and the blood. Rothen had only eyes for his son and the fragile, bloodstained Aurelia. He looked between Aurelia and the corpse, and suddenly, both he and Sonea understood.

Sonea rushed to Aurelia and began checking her over. Dorrien felt frustrated that she didn't trust him to have done a good enough job himself.

Rothen locked eyes with his son. More passed between them in that one moment than could ever be understood.

"I think we have a body to get rid of" Rothen said at last.


	18. Surviving

**A/N: Hi! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. Thank you so much for the reviews, I was really overwhelmed by the support I got for the last chapter. And OMG Laura, I genuinely had this planned out way before any of that stuff happened in that particular TV show, and then when I got your review I was like OMG, SHE'S RIGHT! So sorry for that. One reviewer said that they didn't feel Dorrien would have reacted like that and been capable of murder, and I'd just like to address the fact that this man raped the woman that Dorrien loves, the mother of his children, and tried to attack her again while the children were in the house (not that it's a house, but you get my drift), insulted her, undermined her, and managed to do all of this just weeks after Aurelia had opened up to Dorrien about exactly how he treated her. So I actually think it was perfectly logical for Dorrien to act the way he did – if this was all real I'd have murdered him myself. **

**Sorry, that's turned into a really long AN! Thank you so much and please continue to review.**

* * *

><p>Dorrien continued to look at his father, "Yes. I think we'd better"<p>

Aurelia was holding onto Sonea's hand, still crying, and Sonea was trying to soothe her, murmuring words of kindness and smoothing Aurelia's golden hair. She looked across to Rothen and Dorrien.

"You do that. I'll look after Aurelia"

Dorrien was reluctant to leave her, but he didn't really have a choice, "Okay. Can you...can you clean this up, too?"

They all looked at the pool of scarlet blood. Sonea gulped before she nodded.

"Yes. Of course. Alright"

"And the children are with Mellie, yes?" Rothen checked.

"Yes, I told Liliana to take Arius there once they'd found you" Dorrien looked at his father, "Shall-shall we drag him, or-?"

"Levitate" came Aurelia's very small and very choked voice from the bed, "Then you won't leave any imprints"

Dorrien nodded at the sense of this and he and Rothen levitated the body of Aurelia's father just a few centimetres above the ground. Dorrien felt a lurch in his stomach as he looked at the limp corpse and realised what he had done. Rothen saw this.

"You had to" he said gently, "You couldn't let him live"

* * *

><p>They used magic to dig a deep, square hole in the ground deep in the forests surrounding the Guild. Dorrien was relieved that it was dark now. They couldn't have left the body lying on the floor for any longer.<p>

Only when the corpse was underground and covered over with earth did Dorrien let himself feel the full impact of what he had been through. He sank onto the grass, watching as Rothen tried to make the ground look as though it had never been disturbed. When Rothen had done this, he sat and put an arm around his son. They did not speak for some time.

"I only did it because I love her. Anyone who loves her would have done the same thing, wouldn't they?"

"Yes" replied Rothen with absolute certainty, "I love her. I would have killed him, too"

Silence fell once again. They could hear the distant buzz of voices from the Guild.

"She nearly lost the baby" Dorrien mumbled, staring at his knees, "I had to save it. It's a boy"

"Congratulations" only after he had said them did Rothen notice the irony of his sentiment, "You did a very brave thing tonight, Dorrien. Aurelia is lucky to have you"

"No" Dorrien shook his head, "No, I don't deserve her. _I'm_ lucky to have _her_, that's the way it goes"

Rothen smiled warmly, trying to comfort his son, "You could have married someone who was a lot less trouble"

Dorrien chuckled grudgingly, "No I couldn't. She was meant for me, even if she has messed up our lives several times over" he paused, "You'd do it all again, though, wouldn't you? If you got the chance to do it all over again, you'd still pick Dannyl and Sonea and even Aurelia, despite the fact that they've given you no end of trouble?"

Rothen thought of the three of them, his novices, those who he loved second only to Dorrien and his poor dead wife, "I would. Of course I would. I wouldn't miss having them in my life for anything"

He rose from the ground, brushing down his robes, and held out his hand, "Come on, son. You need to be with your wife"

Dorrien gripped his hand and hauled himself up. Momentarily, he looked at the ground and felt a pang of guilt.

Then he remembered who the man in the ground was, and congratulated himself on a job well done.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Mellie, Eden and Arbella burst in just after dawn. Melody had obviously had very little sleep. Liliana was holding her hand, and Arbella had Arius on her shoulders.<p>

Aurelia and Dorrien had not slept at all. Sonea and Rothen had reluctantly left them at around three in the morning, and they had not spoken since then. There were no words for what they had been through that night, and both were content to just lie in each other's arms and think about their lucky escape.

They were still like this when the children burst in. Lorkin was tagging along behind Melody, who looked furious – and anxious. Liliana and Arius ran away from their older sisters and flew towards their parents.

"Are you okay now, Mummy?" Liliana asked, looking tearful and pale. Aurelia smiled tiredly and kissed her elfin face.

"Yes, sweetheart, much better. Oh, Arius, my baby! Come here and give Mummy a kiss"

Arius snuggled into his mother's arms and kissed her all over her face, until Aurelia was smiling for real this time. When Arius let go, she noticed that Liliana had her arms around Dorrien's neck and was clinging to him with fear in her eyes. Dorrien looked at his wife over the shoulder of their youngest daughter. He was worried about Liliana, who was unsurprisingly scarred from the previous evening.

"Arbella!" Aurelia tried to sound enthusiastic, "Did you enjoy the party? Did you manage to relax a little, Eden? I knew you'd enjoy it – "

"We need to talk to you" said Melody loudly, cutting off Arbella's reply, "Now"

She turned to look at Lorkin pointedly, and he looked genuinely scared. He scuttled off, as per Melody's wishes, to ask his mother what on earth had happened the night before.

"I'll take Liliana and Arius to have a bath" said Dorrien, sensing that this was a conversation Aurelia definitely needed to have with her older girls, "I won't be long" he kissed Aurelia's forehead.

She wriggled to sit up in the bed, and Melody, her face softening, rushed to plump up the pillows so that her mother was sitting comfortably.

"You're right" said Aurelia, looking forlornly at the three girls, "We do need to talk. Mellie, I should have told you years ago"

"Told us what? We were scared out of our wits last night when Liliana and Arius turned up and Liliana wouldn't say a thing except that you were ill and they needed to stay with us. Which we were fine with, but if you'd seen how scared she looked..." Melody had gone pale just thinking about it, "We were so scared"

Aurelia's eyes filled with tears, "Oh, my darling. I'm so sorry" she hugged Melody fiercely until her daughter hugged her back, then moved onto Eden and Arbella, both of whom looked confused, "I'm so sorry. I'm going to tell you everything"

And she did.

When she had finished telling her story, right from the very beginning of her father's abuse, Melody had tears streaming down her face. Eden was staring at the floor, clearly picturing the body, he face drawn and pale. And Arbella just looked stunned – she was so absorbed in herself that she had never had any idea of the notion of suffering, and now she had it was too much for her. She grabbed her mother's hand.

"I understand" she said, "Mum, I understand. Dad had to kill him. If he hadn't, then I would have"

This was the first unselfish thing that Arbella had ever said, and it made them all smile. Eden was nodding solemnly.

"I would have too, Mum. And we won't ever mention a word, we won't talk about it again, I promise"

Melody was silent for a long time before speaking, "I'm sorry I was angry. It's just that I was so – I was – I thought maybe I might have to be without you, and I couldn't even – " she began to cry again. Eden and Arbella moved tactfully away and went to find their father and siblings. Melody curled up on the bed beside her mother and let Aurelia hold her. They both cried.

"I love you, Mum" Melody sniffled. Aurelia smiled into her daughters hair, wiping her own eyes.

"I love you too, Mellie"


	19. Ceremonies

**A/N: Hey! Sorry, it's taken a little longer than I expected for me to update. Thank you so much for the reviews (Azlira, love you lots! ) and please review again for this chapter. Thank you for reading.**

"You sure you're still going to be okay to do this?" Sonea asked worriedly, adjusting the hem of Aurelia's new ceremonial robes bought especially for the wedding tomorrow. Melody, Eden, Arbella and Liliana wore matching ones, all in lilac with beautiful embroidery and beading.

"Of course I am" Aurelia said with a bright smile, "As long as you don't mind my being so huge" she gestured to her belly, and Sonea saw the look of relief that crossed her face every time she did so. She didn't like to imagine what it would have done to Aurelia and Dorrien if they had lost this baby.

"You can hardly help it!" Sonea laughed, relieved to see that Aurelia was beginning to return to her normal self. Dorrien had seemed better that morning, too. Maybe they could finally live their life together the way it was meant to be lived.

"So you're definitely going to go through with it, then?"Aurelia asked, her voice low and anxious. Sonea looked over to where the four sisters and Arius were to make sure they weren't listening; Arius had been complaining about not getting a new outfit like the girls were, so they were currently delighting in dressing their little brother up in Liliana's robes.

"Yes. I-I was wrong. Seeing what you and Dorrien have been through the past week, and how you've helped each other to heal...it made me realise that life is too short to doubt these things. If you find someone that loves you and you love them too, no matter what that love is like, you hold onto them with both hands and never let them go. Like I wish I had been able to do before"

Aurelia flung her arms around Sonea and the two women hugged for a long time, only being interrupted by a kick from the baby that they both felt. As they were laughing, a knock came at the door. Sonea sighed heavily, smoothing out her simple white bridal gown.

"Osen! I know you think it's ridiculous, but I told you a million times, you cannot see me in this dress before tomorrow!" she called, exasperated.

"It's Lorkin" called the voice from the other side of the door, sounding amused, "Let me in"

"Oh" Sonea used her will to open the door for him and smiled ruefully upon seeing her son, "Sorry"

"Don't worry about it" Lorkin came over to his mother and kissed her cheek, "You look lovely"

"Thank you, darling" Sonea beamed with the praise, and Lorkin's eyes suddenly fixed on Melody, who looked mesmerising in her lilac outfit.

"Mel-lie!" he whistled, "You are stunning"

Melody moved away from her now squabbling siblings and towards Lorkin with a slight sway of her hips and a smile on her face.

"You like it?"

"I love it. You going to twirl for me?"

Melody laughed and complied, staggering into Lorkin's arms dizzily when she was done. His lips found her neck.

"You. Are. Gorgeous" he punctuated each word with a kiss, spoke against her skin, "I can't _wait_ to get that off of you"

"Lorkin! Melody!" Sonea cried, grimacing, "Aurelia and I did _not_ particularly want to witness that display of affection"

"Oh, leave them be!" Aurelia grinned, waving a hand airily, though Lorkin and Melody had already pulled apart, both blushing, "They are so sweet together"

Sonea still looked rather queasy, "All the same, no thank you" she turned to Aurelia, "Oh, and another thing – do try to give birth _after_ my wedding? We don't want a repeat of your friend Elle's wedding"

Aurelia blushed; she was still embarrassed about the fact that she had gone into labour with the twins during Elle's nuptials. Elle had never quite forgiven her.

"I promise I will. I'm never going through that again"

"Good" Sonea was laughing by this point, "You know, I'm actually kind of excited"

* * *

><p>Rothen walked with Sonea, his arm linked with hers, smiling at her. He would always consider Sonea his daughter, and he loved her more than she could ever comprehend. She gave him a nervous little smile in return.<p>

Aurelia walked first behind them, and smiled flirtatiously at Dorrien as she passed him. He had Arius on his lap and she saw him smother a laugh. Melody came behind her, and winked saucily at Lorkin before blushing crimson as she realised her father and Tayend had just arrived and were sitting beside him. She looked quickly down at the floor, mortified. Eden and Arbella were, for once, not quarrelling, and looked a lovely pair with their arms linked and their golden hair loose. Liliana skipped at the back of the group, completely content in her role, scattering petals onto the grass beneath their feet.

"You are sure about this, Sonea?" Osen's voice was gentle when she reached him, his eyes warm and shining with love, "I do love you"

"I'm sure" Sonea was suddenly filled with love as she looked up at him, "And I love you, too"

Aurelia wiped an early tear from her eye and grabbed Dorrien's hand.

She did not let go, nor did she stop weeping, for the entire ceremony.

* * *

><p>"Daddy!" Melody flew at Dannyl as soon as the ceremony was over, "I didn't know you were coming!"<p>

"Of course I am, though I'm apparently not allowed to initiate a conversation with anyone. I have to wait until I'm spoken too and despite the celebratory atmosphere, Balkan is watching very closely to see that I obey"

Melody laughed, "Well I could happily speak to you both all night! Hello, Tayend" she kissed her stepfather on the cheek, "Are _you _allowed to talk to anyone?"

"Yes, I think I am" Tayend replied cheerfully.

"But it would be unwise" Dannyl put in with a fond smile, "You know what they all think about us"

"And they're right" Tayend shrugged carelessly, "No, it's fine. I'll go and talk to Aurelia"

"Really?" Dannyl and Melody chorused, amazed. Tayend laughed.

"She's alright, once you get to know her" he replied, and moved away. Melody hugged Dannyl a second time.

"I missed you, even though it's not been long"

"Oh, I don't know" Dannyl was smirking as they parted, "You look like you've been getting on alright without me. I saw that wink you tipped Lorkin. It was quite cheeky of you, Mellie"

Melody went bright pink, "Daddy, stop it! You know that Lorkin and I are together"

"Yes, well, that wink told me all I need to know about how 'together' the two of you are. You must be careful, Mellie, you don't want to have children as early as your mother and – "

"DADDY!" Melody squeaked, "Please stop talking, this is so horrible"

"Well it has to be said, Mellie, you know I – "

"Please! Let's just – let's just go and dance!"

"Don't you want to dance with Lorkin?"

"Daddy! Yes, I will later. Just please stop talking"

Dannyl was chuckling to himself as she dragged him off to dance.


	20. Birth

**A/N: Hi! Sorry, now I'm back at school it's a bit harder to update, so it's taking a bit longer. Sorry! Thank you so much for the reviews and for reading. Please review again!**

It was almost four in the morning when Aurelia's waters broke. She'd been having pains for a couple of hours and, although they had kept her awake, she'd thought nothing of it. But she certainly couldn't ignore them any longer. She sat bolt upright in bed, jolting Dorrien awake with the movement, and let out a hiss through clenched teeth.

"I'll go and get Sonea" Dorrien said quickly, leaping out of bed and pulling on a robe.

"Run" Aurelia replied, closing her eyes briefly as if to shield herself from the pain. Dorrien stopped.

"It's happening that fast?"

"This is my sixth child, Dorrien, if it _wasn't_ happening fast I'd be worried" Aurelia snapped in return. Dorrien knew better than to take her tone offensively – Aurelia was never pleasant to be around when in labour, but he guessed all women were like that.

Dorrien dashed off, and returned mere moments later with both Sonea and Rothen, who went straight to the bedrooms of the three girls and Arius to take them away until Aurelia had had the baby.

Aurelia was so caught up in the pain, she didn't even notice her children leave. What she did notice, however, was that someone was missing.

"Dorrien" she squeezed his hand, hard, "I want Mellie"

"Mellie? Lia, she's not even seventeen yet, I don't think she's going to want to witness a birth"

"I don't care. It'll stop her and Lorkin becoming parents for a long time if she sees how horrible this is"

Sonea looked up from her examination of Aurelia, "Brilliant plan" she agreed at once, "Go and get her, Dorrien"

Dorrien looked between the two women, mouth agape, "But I don't want to leave! This is my baby, remember? Can't Sonea go? I am a Healer, you know, I could help you if I had too"

Aurelia grabbed the material and his robe and pulled his face close to hers, glaring at him, "If you birth this baby, you will never want to sleep with me again. Trust me. And that is NOT happening. Go and get Mellie. NOW"

Dorrien detached himself and dashed out without another word. It felt like he was taking forever.

"I shouldn't have yelled at him" Aurelia moaned, wincing, "God, where is he?"

* * *

><p>Dorrien had gone to Melody's room first, a logical assumption, but upon finding that she wasn't there, had struggled a little to remember where Lorkin's room was. When he eventually found it, Melody looked at him blankly and sleepily when he told her her mother was in labour.<p>

"Well that's very exciting, Do, but I don't see why you had to wake me up to tell me?" her big brown eyes were heavy. He could hear Lorkin snoring and couldn't believe the forcefulness of his knocking hadn't woken him up.

"She wants you there"

"Me? What? Why?"

"She just does. Look, Mellie, I've never pretended that I understand your mother. Just please come with me. She ordered me here to find you and I could be missing it! Please hurry up"

Melody, suddenly very awake, slammed the door on Lorkin and followed Dorrien with haste, neatening her robe as she went.

* * *

><p>The labour was certainly not as fast as Aurelia had hoped. Melody held her hand on one side and Dorrien on the other, and Aurelia had never been more grateful to see either of them in her life.<p>

At twelve minutes past eight that same morning, Aurelia gave birth to a son.

Dorrien, weeping, was the first to hold him. Their second son looked up at him without wailing, with Dorrien's dark hair on his head. When Aurelia held him and looked up at Melody, beaming with pride, to gage her reaction, she saw that her daughter, too, was in tears.

"He's so beautiful" Melody breathed, and Aurelia's smile grew.

"What did you expect? As if a son of mine and Dorrien's could ever be ugly"

They all laughed, and this seemed to be a cue for Rothen and the children, who were waiting outside. The twins, Liliana and Arius ran straight over to their parents, who were both seated on the bed, and looked at the bundle Aurelia was cradling.

"He's so small!" Arbella cooed – she had said exactly the same thing when Arius had been born, but no-one commented on that.

"He looks like me" Eden added proudly – she looked more like her father than any of her siblings, and now she had someone that matched.

Liliana said nothing, but she was quietely excited at the thought of another younger brother to boss around.

"Arius?" Aurelia prompted gently, "Do you like your little brother?"

Arius looked, for a moment, to be seriously considering the question, before he nodded and beamed at his beloved mother.

"Yes, Mummy, I do"

"Oh, good" Aurelia kissed his forehead, not quite able to hide her relief.

"What are you going to call him?" asked Rothen cheerfully; he never got tired of the excitement of a new baby, even with five natural grandchildren and two adopted grandchildren.

Aurelia and Dorrien exchanged a smiling glance.

"We were actually thinking of calling him Rothen" Dorrien replied, grinning at his father, "Would you approve?"

Rothen was struck speechless for some time before he spoke, "I – I...It would be an honour"

Dorrien moved to hug his father and placed the baby in his arms. Rothen cradled his namesake, thinking that he had never been quite so proud in his life.

* * *

><p>"He's asleep?" Dorrien couldn't help being surprised, propping himself up on his pillows as Aurelia entered their bedroom, "Wow. Well done you"<p>

Aurelia laughed. Their son was three weeks old, and this was the first time it had taken her less than an hour to get him to sleep at night. She climbed into bed beside him, stretched.

"Yep. Which means he'll wake up a lot. And – oh, it's your turn" she grinned cheekily at him, "Have fun"

Dorrien yawned, "Oh, I'm sure I will"

Aurelia rolled onto her side, "You may as well not go to sleep"

Dorrien didn't comprehend, at first, "Well, that seems a bit pointl – oh!"

"Oh, indeed!" Aurelia laughed, "You know, I can't remember the last time we..." her words trailed away as she moved to kiss his neck. Dorrien gently detached her.

"I didn't want to rush you. I still don't. After what happened...after what happened with your father, I thought you'd probably want to be left alone, and you have just had a baby. Are you sure you're...ready?"

"Would I be doing this if I wasn't?" she pressed her lips to his, and all further protests and cautions fled his mind. Aurelia moved to straddle him, smiling as she shed her clothes, and his.

"Lia..."

"Don't you dare say another word" Aurelia warned sternly.

They were enjoying themselves so much that when the door opened ten minutes later, they didn't hear it. They didn't hear Dannyl and Tayend's drunken laughter, nor their delighted remarks about how easy they had found it to sneak into the Guild in the middle of the night. But what Dannyl and Tayend heard, and what they saw, was a lot more disturbing.

"OH MY GOD!" Tayend shrieked, covering his eyes. Aurelia screamed and ended up falling onto the floor, staring with horror at their late night visitors. Dorrien pulled her up and threw the sheet over both of them.

"_What the hell are you two doing here_?" he roared. Dannyl and Tayend looked at each other. Every person in the room was crimson with embarrassment.

"We – we just thought we'd surprise you" Dannyl mumbled, "We came to see the baby"

"In the dead of night?" Aurelia cried, "I can't believe you thought that was a good idea. Are you two drunk?"

"A little" Tayend slurred.

Dorrien and Aurelia looked at each other. Dorrien glared at the couple on the doorstep.

"Please get out of my bedroom" he said quietly, menacingly, "We'll see you in the morning"

"Where are we supposed to sleep?" Dannyl exclaimed.

"You should have thought of that earlier! For God's sake, go and find Rothen or something. Just...please leave, before I die of embarrassment" Aurelia begged.

"It's nothing Dannyl hasn't seen before" Tayend decided to put in cheerfully. Dannyl glowered at him.

"GET OUT!" Dorrien yelled, flinging a pillow at the pair of them. They both ducked and fought to get out of the room.

Baby Rothen started to cry.

Aurelia looked over at Dorrien, "Well, that went well"

"Tell me about it" Dorrien paused on the doorway to their son's room, "You didn't ever do that to Dannyl, did you?"

"DORRIEN!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going!"


	21. Awkwardness and Proposals

**A/N: Hi! Thank you so much for the reviews, sorry it's taken a little longer than normal. Only this chapter and the epilogue left! I am very sad :'( But thank you so much for reading and reviewing, please continue and I love you all lots!**

"Aurelia" Dannyl knocked on the door for the third time, "Aurelia. Aurelia! You're going to have to let us in sometime"

"Fine. But if you say one word about last night ..." Aurelia threatened as she opened the door, scowling at Dannyl and Tayend's sheepish faces. Melody was hovering behind them.

"What happened last night?" she asked, beaming and reaching out to take baby Rothen from her mother, "Hey, sweetie pie. No, seriously, what happened? I got woken up in the middle of the night to find these two on Lorkin's doorstep begging to be allowed to sleep in my room"

Aurelia reddened, "Nothing happened, darling. Come in, then, you two, if you're coming"

Dannyl and Tayend, still wearing expressions of amused, childlike guilt, entered the rooms. Tayend winked at Dannyl behind Aurelia's back and Dannyl was forced to smother a snort of laughter.

Dorrien looked up from where he was eating breakfast with the children. Arbella was nattering away about something and he was nodding along, trying to look interested. When he saw Dannyl and Tayend, however, his cheeks grew pink and he looked quickly down at his plate.

"Hey, guys!" Melody said cheerfully, grinning at her siblings.

"Hey, Mellie" they chorused; Eden and Arbella both greeted Dannyl and Tayend with fond kisses on their cheeks.

"Good morning" said Dorrien stiffly, his eyes darting awkwardly towards the couple.

"Morning!" replied Tayend brightly. Dannyl shot him a sharp look and Tayend sighed heavily.

"Look, if we just talk about it, it won't be half as awkward! So it was a bit of an embarrassing situation – "

"Girls, could you play with Liliana and Arius, please?" Aurelia interrupted quickly, "Mellie, you too"

The twins took the children away from the group of adults, but Melody did not move. She was rocking Rothen and looking frankly suspicious.

"I'm almost seventeen, I'm sure whatever you're about to tell me can't be all that bad" she said sternly, eyes roving over the pink faces of her parents and step-parents, "Come on, I can take it. Here, Daddy, you wanted to see the baby" she placed Rothen gently in her father's arms and Dannyl smiled down at the baby, avoiding the question. Tayend sighed again.

"I've got no problem with telling you, Mellie. Last night, your father and I consumed rather a lot of wine – "

"It's not unusual" Melody cut in with twinkling eyes. Tayend grinned before resuming the tale.

"And we decided that we simply couldn't wait to see the baby, so we turned up here, completely unannounced – "

"That's quite enough of that story" interrupted Dorrien gruffly.

"No, it isn't" Melody insisted, "Go on, Tayend"

"And we caught your mother and Dorrien in a rather ...compromising position. That is to say that – "

"Oh my God!" Melody shrieked, blushing herself, "Okay, okay, I get the picture! Oh my...oh God. I understand why you're all acting so weirdly now. Oh my _God_"

Aurelia had turned a rather deep shade of red by this time, "I did say you didn't want to hear it. Now that's that, I don't want this ever bought up again"

"Well it doesn't matter, really. I mean, now everyone in this room has seen you naked" Tayend shrugged mischievously.

"TAYEND!" Aurelia yelped, "Stop it!"

Melody snorted with laughter, "Actually, Mum, that's sort of funny"

"The kids have never seen me naked. Like I'd walk around like that in front of my own children"

"Ehem" Melody coughed, "I have. We used to share baths when I was little, remember?"

"Yes, well, you were my first born and I didn't know any better. Oh, honestly, this is a horrid topic of conversation. And you weren't supposed to see me naked, Tayend, so I wish you'd stop mentioning it. God, having you two around always ends in some sort of sordid secret"

"I agree with Aurelia – "

"Don't you mean _Lia_?" Tayend's eyes were sparkling with undisguised mirth. Dannyl started laughing, and Melody had soon followed. Only Dorrien and Aurelia were still cringing with embarrassment.

"Right. If any of you mention this ever again, I will kick you both out of these rooms, you understand?" Dorrien threatened at last. Dannyl, Tayend and Melody sobered at once.

"Well, he's a lovely baby" said Dannyl at last, in a vague attempt to change the subject, "Looks just like you, L-I mean, Aurelia. He looks just like Aurelia"

* * *

><p>Two days after Dannyl and Tayend had departed, Lorkin decided that it was time to ask Melody the question that had been on his mind for some time now. He'd been thinking about it for months, but every time the words tried to escape his lips, something always pushed them back. And he had wanted to ask Dannyl first, partly because it was a nice old-fashioned idea that he thought Mellie would like, but mainly because he thought it might make Dannyl like him a bit better. But now he had asked Dannyl, Dannyl had, with some persuasion, agreed, and he had no excuse left. The time had come. His palms were sweating.<p>

"You look distracted" Melody observed, chewing on her pencil as she read through the notes Tayend had given her on Warrior theory. He'd found a book in the library on the subject and had taken the time to turn the text into revision notes for her. She loved Tayend for those thoughtful little things that he did for her.

"I am, a little" Lorkin confessed. Melody looked up, eyes sparkling, lips curving into a cherry-coloured smile.

"Well I'd love to, Lorkin, but I really do have to study right now – "

"No, no, that's not what I was talking about at all!" Lorkin cried, "Oh, look, Mellie, I'm kind of nervous to ask you this, but it's important..."

"Ask me what?" Melody looked quizzically at him, still smiling, "You do look a little nervous, actually. You're so pale! What's going on?"

"Mellie, I – "Lorkin gulped loudly, "I – I love you, so much, and I – I want to be with you...forever"

Her face was shining; she had guessed what was coming, "You do?"

"Yes, yes, I do, and I –" closing his eyes briefly to pluck up the courage, Lorkin knelt down on one knee. Melody gasped.

"Lorkin! "

"Mellie, will you marry me?"

"I – Oh my God – I – you mean now?"

"No! No, I mean in a couple of years, once you've graduated" he hesitated anxiously, "So...will you?"

"Yes!" Melody shrieked, flinging her arms around him, "Yes, yes, yes, yes! Yes! Of course I will, you fool!"

Lorkin had never smiled so much in his life; he thought it might actually break his face, "You're serious?"

"Yes, I am! Yes, yes, _yes_..." she was punctuating each word with kisses now, her warm body edging progressively closer to his. Lorkin grinned against her lips.

"I thought you had to study?" he murmured.

She nipped his lower lip lightly between her teeth, and smiled, "Screw studying"


	22. Epilogue

**A/N: Here's the epilogue! Until the sequel, that is. I really hope you enjoy it, be sure to read my chapter AN, and please review. Thank you :)**

_**THREE YEARS LATER**_

"Dannyl! Oh, Dannyl, come and look at her!"

Dannyl answered Aurelia's call at once, entering the room in which his daughter was being dressed for her wedding day.

Melody was smiling, laughing at her mother's excitement, pink-cheeked with embarrassment and eagerness. Her long dark hair had been swept up into an elegant bun, little ringlets falling around her ears. She wore a beautiful white dress with a thin lace fabric over the top of the satin, and long lace sleeves. Aurelia had wound roses into a circlet for Melody's head, and she held matching roses in her hands. Melody turned from the mirror and beamed at her father.

"Hi, Daddy! What do you think?"

Dannyl, his throat suddenly rather choked, answered with a thickness in his voice, "Mellie, you're beautiful"

Melody blushed, and swept over to kiss him, smelling of coconut oil, "Thanks, Daddy. Are you nervous?"

"Never mind that!" Aurelia laughed, tidying her own hair, "Are you?"

"No" Melody replied at once, "No, of course I'm not"

"That's my girl" Aurelia kissed her cheek, "I'll go and take my seat. Good luck, sweetheart. And be good, girls!" she called over her shoulder. Eden and Arbella, fifteen and prettier than ever, Liliana, now eleven and still shy as a mouse, and Yena, Sonea and Osen's barely toddling daughter, were to be bridesmaids. Liliana was holding Yena's hand as she watched our mother depart.

"Is it time, Mellie?" she asked eagerly. Melody looked at her father.

"Yes, I think so" she linked Dannyl's arm tightly and he knew that, despite her brave words, she was just a little bit frightened.

They emerged into the bright sunlight of the Guild grounds, and Melody had to squint to see in front of her. When her eyes found Lorkin, she visibly relaxed, and Dannyl smiled.

"You're happy?" he murmured. Melody looked up at him and smiled radiantly.

"Yes. I'm happy"

"I'm so proud of you" Dannyl whispered, and his eyes were wet as they followed the four bridesmaids down the aisle. Melody's eyes were damp too.

"I'm proud of you too, Daddy"

Dannyl didn't have time to ask her what she meant, for they had reached the altar, and Lorkin was waiting with an expression of the deepest love and adoration on his face. Dannyl placed Melody's hands in his and looked sternly at his soon to be son-in-law. He didn't have to say anything; Lorkin's nod of reassurance was all he needed.

Melody looked up at Lorkin, forgetting that their families and half of the Guild were watching them. All she could do was smile.

"You've never looked lovelier" Lorkin told her, smiling back, "I love you so much, Melody"

"I love you too"

* * *

><p>"Do you think we'll be happy forever?" Melody asked Lorkin as they danced later on; every girl wants to believe in perfection on her wedding day.<p>

Lorkin laughed as he spun her, "If we want to be, then we can be"

"Then we will be" Melody leaned into him, face tilted up to his, "Do you wish your father was here?"

A shadow passed over Lorkin's face, but he had soon replaced it with a smile, "Of course I do. But I never really knew him, Mellie. I don't have the right to wish for it, really" he looked over to where Sonea was dancing with Osen, Yena hopping brightly between them, "Mother is happy, though, and I couldn't ask for more than that"

They had been to visit Akkarin's grave the previous night. Lorkin had confessed to her that he spoke to his dead father weekly, telling him any new developments in his life, and the confession had torn at Mellie's heart. She so wanted Lorkin to be happy, and if he needed a connection with his father to do that, then she would support him all the way.

"Good. As long as you know that I'm here for you"

"Of course you are. You're stuck with me for the rest of your life"

Meanwhile, Aurelia twirled away from Dorrien, leaving him to dance with their most demanding daughter, Arbella, and moved over to where Dannyl was seated. He was alone; he had danced with Melody before surrendering her to Lorkin, and Tayend had disappeared to chat with Eden, who he seemed to have found a lot in common with. Aurelia looked over to check that Liliana, Arius and Rothen were okay – they were jumping around like mad things on the dance floor, as children do – before sitting down.

"She looks lovely, doesn't she?" she said with pride, watching her daughter and Lorkin as they laughed together and cutting herself a slice of cake.

"Impossibly so" Dannyl agreed, "I can't believe she's grown up so fast. I still remember every detail of the day she was born. How you went into labour in the middle of the night – "

"-And I screamed my head off at poor Dorrien when he was being so good to me – "

" – And you got Sonea to contact me and me and Tayend came as fast as we could – "

"- But you missed it by about two minutes and I was already holding her when you arrived – "

" – And then you handed her to me and I just felt...everything. I loved her at once. I knew then that I would die for her"

They both smiled wistfully, lost in the recollection.

"You know" Dannyl began, "With everything that happened between us...and with Melody...I never remembered to thank you"

"Thank me?" Aurelia frowned, "For what?"

"Well although your methods weren't great, without you I would never have had the chance to be a father" Dannyl reached out and squeezed her hand, "And I can never thank you enough for giving me Melody"

Aurelia squeezed his hand in return, "Don't thank me! It may have happened in the worst possible way, but it was a blessing for both of us. And even though I am the happiest I could ever have been with Dorrien, I love him more than anything, and although I have had other children whom I adore, I still thank you for Melody. I thank you for her every day"

They grinned at each other, looking over at their daughter. Rothen winked at them both as he danced with Liliana, who adored her granddad more than anyone else. Dorrien grinned when he felt his wife's eyes on him, and thought how much he loved her. And as Dannyl and Tayend's eyes met, Dannyl knew that he did not want things to change for a very long time.

Everything was perfect just the way it was.


	23. AN

Hi everybody! So this is just my usual long AN to thank everyone who reviewed, even though I have decided to write A SEQUEL! But this will definitely be the last, I promise. Might as well make it a nice well-rounded trilogy...

I especially want to thank the ever supportive and extremely fun **Azlira,** who became a great friend while I was writing the first story and has remained one ever since! Thank you so much, and I'm counting on you...

**Laura Scofield** also became a great friend during the last story and we discovered we have loads in common over the course of the sequel! Thank you for your friendship and support, Laura -I've missed you lately!

Thanks also to **Icey,** who has reviewed any number of times and always been so nice, **ksny,** who is just one of the sweetest people ever, and **Chippy21**, whose praising yet violent reviews make me laugh. Thanks, guys!

Hope to see you all reading the last instalment (some shameless self-promotion there...) and thanks again!


End file.
